President Trump recently released a transcript in which he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a favor, specifically to investigate former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, sparking an impeachment inquiry.
Ever since, he has been trying to change the conversation to focus on allegations he’s been making against the Bidens.
Now, President Trump has openly, publicly, in front of cameras and reporters on the White House lawn, asked China to investigate the Bidens as well.
Asked by reporters what he wanted from Zelensky, Trump replied that he wanted Ukraine to start a “major investigation.”
“It’s a very simple answer. They should investigate the Bidens. Likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine,” he said, according to numerous reports. “So, I would say that President Zelensky, if it were me, I would recommend that they start an investigation into the Bidens.”
There is no evidence of any wrongdoing by either Biden.
As The Washington Post reported, Trump’s baseless allegations regarding both China and Ukraine stem from business dealings with Hunter Biden’s consulting firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners, his role on the board of a fund called BHR Partners.
They also concern a 2013 trip to China that conservative author Peter Schweizer wrote about in his 2018 book, Secret Empires , as well as then-VP Biden’s role in the removal of Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin.
While Trump alleges Hunter Biden gained access to Chinese investors and came home with “$1.5 billion in a fund,” that number appears to come from Schweizer’s book.
Hunter Biden’s firm sought $1.5 billion in fundraising, but fell short, garnering a mere $4.2 million. Hunter has not received any payments from that company, and his “capital commitment is approximately $420,000.”
The Washington Post ‘s fact checkers have rated Trump’s claims about Hunter Biden “four Pinocchios,” a rating they reserve for “whoppers.”
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In the case of Shokin, Joe Biden did indeed push for his removal — as part of anti-corruption reforms.
Trump alleges that then-VP Biden wanted to shut down investigations into a Ukrainian gas company of which Hunter Biden was a board member.
However, concerns about corruption in Shokin’s office were shared by Republicans as well, so much so that GOP Senators Rob Portman, Mark Kirk, and Ron Johnson signed a bipartisan letter urging the Ukrainian government to reform the Prosecutor General’s office. Removing Shokin was widely popular and seen as necessary to fighting corruption in Ukraine.
All of which brings the attention squarely back to President Trump.
While he maintains the phone call with Zelensky at the heart of the impeachment inquiry was “perfect,” Trump is now acknowledging publicly that he wants Ukraine and China to investigate the man he could face in the general election in 2020.
As some, such as former Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul noted, the timing of Trump telling China what he wants from them, with Chinese trade negotiators due back in Washington next week, is not good.
It’s also worth noting that China, an authoritarian Communist state, is not known for having a fair or transparent justice system.
The Biden campaign issued a comment regarding the president’s appeal to China and Ukraine, saying it was “this election’s equivalent of his infamous ‘Russia, if you’re listening’ moment from 2016 — a grotesque choice of lies over truth and self over the country…Now, with his administration in free-fall, Donald Trump is flailing and melting down on national television, desperately clutching for conspiracy theories that have been debunked and dismissed by independent, credible news organizations.”
h/t: NBC News , CNN , The Washington Post
