On Tuesday, September 24, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a “formal impeachment inquiry” into Donald Trump over allegations that he pressured Ukraine to stage an “investigation” of former Vice President Joe Biden, who according to current polls appears to be Trump’s most likely opponent in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump denied that he pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate Biden in a phone call to President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25, though a partial transcript of that phone call released by the White House on September 25 appeared to show otherwise, as The Inquisitr reported, revealing that Trump followed a request by Zelensky for badly needed military aid by telling him, “I need you to do me a favor, though.”
But on Thursday, October 3, Trump erased all doubt about his intentions when, in an exchange with reporters as he departed the White House for Florida, Trump openly called on Ukraine to investigate Biden. But as CNBC reported, Trump did not stop there.
With crucial trade talks between the United States and China set to open next week, Trump also called on China to open an investigation of Biden.
According to political scientist Brian Klaas, writing on his Twitter account, the timing of Trump’s call on China to investigate Biden was another example of Trump using the leverage of the United States government for his personal, political gain.
“It’s obviously a quid pro quo. It’s impossible to believe otherwise,” the University College of London professor wrote. “He’s using U.S. power, national security, and trade policy as bargaining chips for his personal and political interests.”
In his remarks on Thursday, Trump said that Ukraine would open his hoped-for investigation into long-debunked allegations that Biden forced the firing of a top Ukraine prosecutor to shield his own son from an investigation, “if they’re honest about it.”
He then said that China should “likewise” open an investigation into Biden, charging — with no evidence — that “what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine.”
Trump has previously alleged that Biden arranged a deal for his son, Hunter Biden, that allowed the Bidens to somehow make more than $1 billion from China. Biden’s son “walks out of China with $1.5 billion in a fund,” Trump has said, according to a CNN report.
In fact, as CNN also reported, there is no evidence to support Trump’s wild accusation, which appears to originate with a book by right-wing writer Peter Schweizer, author of the book Clinton Cash , whose latest book, Secret Empires , contains the allegation against Biden.
The real story, according to CNN , is that two years after Joe Biden left the Vice President’s job, Hunter Biden purchased a minor stake in a Chinese private equity fund, for about $430,000. To date, Hunter Biden appears to have made no payoff from that investment.