Instead of backing off of Ukraine after his impeachment-worthy exploits, Donald Trump doubled down. That tactic has worked for him for 73 years, and he will probably wonder why it may backfire on him now. This is what happened.
POTUS just said that China should also check into former vice president Joe Biden and son Hunter. Nevermind that Trump has an opening to restart trade negotiations. In just a week, a Chinese delegation will come to the White House to resume negotiations.
His officials have been working on a broad deal with China including trade deficits and the theft of intellectual property. At the UN a week ago, Trump exclaimed that he would not accept “a bad deal with China.”
Trump met with reporters when Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö, who looked as if he would like to be anywhere but there, visited the White House. POTUS and took questions from reporters who wanted to know what he wanted the president of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to do about former vice president Biden and son. According to CNBC, he said:
‘If they were honest about it, they would start a major investigation into the Bidens.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.’
The president took questions shouted by reporters on the South Lawn of the White House as his helicopter geared up for a trip to Florida:
‘I have a lot of options on China, but if they don’t do what we want, we have tremendous power.’
In the call as it was transcribed, Trump said:
‘There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that, so whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution, so if you can look into it, It sounds horrible to me.’
Then, the White House released a five-page memo after the media unearthed the whistleblower’s complaint. It said that Trump used:
‘[T]he power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.’
The Washington Post reporters asked Trump about his China comments, and he responded:
‘I see that as exactly what a president should do. I’m not saying Trump never did anything wrong, but there are other people who did things wrong, too.’
Former NBC News correspondent and author Jacqueline Alemany texted:
‘Just hopped off the phone w Giuliani who wanted to discuss Volker & asked him about Trump’s comment: “I see that as exactly what a president should do.. I’m not saying Trump never did anything wrong but there are other people who did things wrong, too.”‘
Just hopped off the phone w Giuliani who wanted to discuss Volker & asked him about Trump’s comment: “I see that as exactly what a president should do.. I’m not saying Trump never did anything wrong but there are other people who did things wrong, too.” https://t.co/aRBRFWnhbr
— Jacqueline Alemany (@JaxAlemany) October 3, 2019
Former Ambassador to NATO Nick Burns appeared on MSNBC. He was disgusted with Trump:
‘[C]alling on one of our great rivals in the world, the Chinese regime, to investigate his political opponent. It’s wrong to do that. It’s legally and morally wrong.’
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
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