October 24, 2019

Did Trump Use Trade Talks to Push for Biden Investigation? The White House Won’t Say

Ron Sachs/Zuma

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While the House of Representatives continues its impeachment inquiry over Donald Trump’s attempts to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Biden family, the White House is refusing to say whether the president used sensitive negotiations with China to push for a similar investigation of the Bidens by that country.

As the Ukraine scandal ramped up several weeks ago, Trump tweeted about Hunter Biden’s business involvement in China. Trump publicly called on China to investigate the matter—just days before the US and China were set to resume high-stakes trade talks. Trump ultimately announced that he’d reached a partial trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping. On Thursday, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro declined to tell CNN whether the Trump administration brought up the Bidens during the negotiations.

“You don’t have a right to know what happens behind closed doors in the administration,” Navarro told CNN’s Jim Sciutto.

Sciutto followed up, asking, “Did you bring up investigating the Bidens as part of the negotiations?”

“You’re asking me what happens in the White House behind closed doors,” Navarro replied.

Watch a clip of interview below:

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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