Political Cartoons: Trump asking China to investigate Bidens divides Republicans
Second whistleblower steps forward as Trump's request is rebuked by Utah Senator Mitt Romney, supported by Secretary of State Pompeo.
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Though it is illegal to solicit campaign help from a foreign government, President Trump this month asked Ukraine and China to investigate Joe Biden, the former Vice President and current Democratic frontrunner opposing him in the upcoming 2020 election, and Biden’s son Hunter.
Most Republican leaders were silent or supportive of Trump’s request, AP reported.
Vice President Mike Pence backed Trump and said he was raising “appropriate” issues. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dismissed questions about Trump’s push for China and Ukraine’s help as a “silly gotcha game,” adding that Trump “has every right to have these set of conversations.”
GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said he didn’t think there was “anything improper,” about Trump’s request.
But other Republicans in the Senate voiced concern that the president was trying to enlist a rival power in his reelection effort.
“By all appearances, the President’s brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling,” Utah Sen. Mitt Romney said.
Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse took a more critical stance in a statement to the Omaha World-Herald: “Americans don’t look to Chinese commies for the truth. If the Biden kid broke laws by selling his name to Beijing, that’s a matter for American courts, not communist tyrants running torture camps.”
In a press conference, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio told reporters Trump was not making “a real request” to China. Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan likewise evaded answering yes or no questions about the impropriety of Trump’s request, responding with a question: “You really think he was serious about thinking that China’s going to investigate the Biden family?”
China this month is celebrating the 70th anniversary of its founding as the People’s Republic of China.
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