Online
\nWashington
\nUS President Donald Trump, already facing an impeachment inquiry after urging Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden, has now urged China to do likewise.
\nHe said both China and Ukraine should look into Biden, a Democratic presidential frontrunner, and his son. \u201cChina should start an investigation into the Bidens,\u201d said Trump.
\nThe Democrats accuse Trump of dangling military aid as a way to press Ukraine to dig dirt on Biden.
\nBiden responded by tweeting: \u201cThe idea of Donald Trump attacking anyone\u2019s integrity is a joke.\u201d
\nA 25 July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky triggered an intelligence community whistleblower complaint and the impeachment inquiry.
\nBut Trump said on Thursday that the inquiry, which could culminate in a congressional attempt to remove him from office, is \u201ccrap\u201d.
\nIn a late-night tweet,Trump added that he had a duty to investigate alleged corruption \u201cand that would include asking, or suggesting, other countries to help us out!\u201d
\nWhat has Trump accused the Bidens of doing?
\nTrump has accused Biden and his son Hunter of corruption in their political and business dealings in Ukraine and China, without offering specific evidence.
\nWhen Hunter Biden joined Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma in 2014, questions were raised about a potential conflict of interest for his father.
\nUkraine was undergoing a political transition after its pro-Russia president was forced out of office, while the elder Biden was the Obama administration\u2019s point man for the Eastern European country.
\nIn 2016, Joe Biden pushed the Ukrainian government to fire its top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, whose office had been scrutinising the oligarch owner of Burisma.
\nIn a speech last year at a think tank, Biden boasted of having forced Shokin out by threatening to withhold a billion-dollar loan guarantee to Ukraine.
\nTrump and his allies accuse Biden of acting to protect his son. However, other Western officials and major financers of Ukraine\u2019s government also wanted Shokin dismissed because he was seen as a barrier to anti-corruption efforts.
\nWhen asked what Trump sought as a \u201cfavour\u201d from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in this summer\u2019s phone call, Trump responded: \u201cWell, I would think that if they were honest about it, they\u2019d start a major investigation into the Bidens. It\u2019s a very simple answer.
\n\u201cThey should investigate the Bidens,\u201d he said, speaking to reporters on the lawn of the White House.
\n\u201cLikewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens because what happened to China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine,\u201d he continued.
\nTrump also suggested again without offering evidence that Biden had \u201cscammed\u201d other countries and was responsible for China\u2019s \u201csweetheart\u201d trade relationship with the US.
\nThe head of the Federal Election Commission responded by tweeting a reminder that it is illegal for anyone to solicit anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a US election.
\nA spokeswoman for Biden\u2019s 2020 campaign accused Trump of \u201cflailing and melting down on national television, desperately clutching for conspiracy theories that have been debunked and dismissed by independent, credible news organisations\u201d.
\nDeputy Campaign Manager Kate Bedingfield\u2019s statement compared Trump\u2019s latest comments to his \u201c\u2019Russia, if you\u2019re listening\u2019 moment from 2016 – a grotesque choice of lies over truth and self over the country\u201d.
\nThe quote is a reference to Trump\u2019s first election campaign, in which he urged Russia to find more than 30,000 emails deleted from his opponent Hillary Clinton\u2019s personal server.
\nA spokesman for Hunter Biden has told US media that Trump\u2019s $1.5bn (\u00a31.2bn) figure is false, and that the younger Biden did not receive any return or compensation from the Chinese firm.
\nIn 2013, then vice-president Biden went to China on an official visit, where he met Chinese President Xi Jinping and other officials.
\nHunter Biden and his daughter joined the vice-president, who had travelled with family members before.
\nDuring the two-day visit, Hunter met a Chinese banker, Jonathan Li, who would eventually become a business partner.
\nLi founded a private equity fund shortly after the trip, and Hunter was on the board, although a spokesman for the younger Biden told NBC News they did not discuss any business during the trip and the fund had been planned months earlier.
\nHunter Biden was also not an equity owner in the fund during his father\u2019s term as vice-president, according to the spokesman.
\nHunter has denied meeting any Chinese officials about the business. However, he reportedly helped arrange for Li to shake hands with Joe Biden during his trip to Beijing, which stoked claims of influence-peddling.
\nThis August, Republican Senator and Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley questioned Hunter\u2019s actions on the trip.
\nHe said the younger Biden had a \u201chistory of investing in and collaborating with Chinese companies, including at least one posing significant national security concerns\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Online Washington US President Donald Trump, already facing an impeachment inquiry after urging Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden, has now urged China to do likewise. He said both China and Ukraine should look into Biden, a Democratic presidential frontrunner, and his son. \u201cChina should start an investigation into the Bidens,\u201d said Trump. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n