President Trump on Thursday said Ukrainian officials should investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden and his son Hunter — and that China might as well, too.
The president offered his view one day after he sparred with a Reuters reporter who asked the president to explain what he wanted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to do, exactly, when Mr. Trump raised the Bidens in a July 25 phone call.
“It’s a very simple answer. They should investigate the Bidens,” Mr. Trump told White House reporters as he left for an event in Florida. “Likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine.”
Mr. Trump says Hunter Biden traded on his father’s position to foster business ties in Ukraine and elsewhere around the globe.
He also pointed to Hunter Biden’s trip to China with the former vice president in 2013, after which Hunter Biden became involved with an investment fund that did business with the Bank of China.
The president said he has not asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to look into the Bidens.
“But clearly it’s something we should start thinking about, because I’m sure that President Xi does not like being under that kind of scrutiny,” he said.
Mr. Trump’s call with Mr. Zelensky is at the heart of an impeachment inquiry being conducted by House Democrats.
During the Ukraine call, Mr. Trump told Mr. Zelensky to confer with Attorney General William P. Barr, citing talk that the vice president had “stopped the prosecution” — a reference to his belief Mr. Biden moved to oust a Ukrainian prosecutor in 2016 to shield his son, who was on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma.
Mr. Biden says he didn’t do anything wrong. His son wasn’t accused of wrongdoing at the time, and the probe was reportedly dormant before the vice president and other Western officials urged Ukraine to dump its prosector because he wasn’t doing enough to stop corruption.
Mr. Trump isn’t convinced, saying his foremost 2020 Democratic rival deserves scrutiny.
“I would say that ’President Zelensky, if it were me, I would start an investigation into the Bidens,’ ” Mr. Trump said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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