Donald Trump urges China to investigate Joe Biden
US president defiant in the face of impeachment proceedings

Donald Trump has publicly called on China to investigate Joe Biden, in defiance of an impeachment investigation launched after he made a similar but private request of the Ukrainian prime minister.
“China should start an investigation into the Bidens,” the US president said. “What happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine.”
Asked if he had already asked China’s leader, Xi Jinping, to mount an investigation into his rival, the president said: “I haven’t, but it’s certainly something we can start thinking about.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Then, in a late night tweet, he wrote that, as president, he has “an absolute right, perhaps even a duty”, to “investigate, or have investigated, CORRUPTION, and that would include asking, or suggesting, other Countries to help us out!”
The news comes after CNN revealed that Trump discussed Biden with Xi in June. During a phone call with the Chinese leader, the US president talked about Biden’s political prospects and those of Elizabeth Warren, who by then had started rising in the polls, according to the broadcaster’s sources.
“Chinese officials listening to Trump might surmise that obtaining a favourable trade deal with the United States may require helping the President win the election,” it said.
The White House does not deny that Biden’s name came up. A spokeswoman said: “We are not going to start discussing the contents of every conversation President Trump has with world leaders, other than to say his conversations are always appropriate.”
In response to Trump’s remarks, a Chinese diplomat said: “This is quite chaotic. We do not want to get in the middle of the US politics.”
Trump accuses Biden and his son Hunter of corruption in their political and business dealings in Ukraine and China. He has never offered evidence.
His latest remarks surprised many. “Impeachment, it seems, has got under Trump’s skin like nothing else,” says The Guardian. “His tone has become more frantic, frenzied and apocalyptic”.
Adam Schiff, the US House intelligence committee's Democratic chairman, said Trump's latest comments mean he has broken his oath of office. “The president of the United States encouraging a foreign nation to interfere again to help his campaign by investigating a rival is a fundamental breach of a president's oath of office,” he said.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Trump uses tariffs to upend Brazil's domestic politics
IN THE SPOTLIGHT By slapping a 50% tariff on Brazil for its criminal investigation into Bolsonaro, the Trump administration is brazenly putting its fingers on the scales of a key foreign election
-
'Trump's authoritarian manipulation of language'
Instant Opinion Vienna has become a 'convenient target for populists' | Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump set to hit Canada with 35% tariffs
Speed Read The president accused Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of failing to stop the cross-border flow of fentanyl
-
Could Trump really 'take over' American cities?
Today's Big Question Trump has proposed a federal takeover of New York City and Washington, D.C.
-
Trump threatens Brazil with 50% tariffs
Speed Read He accused Brazil's current president of leading a 'witch hunt' against far-right former leader Jair Bolsonaro
-
Is the Trump-Putin bromance over... again?
Today's Big Question The US president has admitted he's 'p*ssed off' with his opposite number
-
SCOTUS greenlights Trump's federal firings
speed read The Trump administration can conduct mass federal firings without Congress' permission, the Supreme Court ruled
-
'The way AI is discussed makes it seem like this is a necessary outcome'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day