The News
President Trump on Thursday openly called for another foreign country, China, to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Trump spoke to reporters as he departed the White House, saying “China should start an investigation into the Bidens.” Trump also reiterated — this time publicly to the cameras — his desire for Ukraine to investigate the Bidens.
In response, former HUD Secretary and presidential candidate Julián Castro tweeted “who needs a transcript when the crime is broadcast from the South Lawn?”
What It Means
Trump is brazenly giving the middle finger to the impeachment inquiry. He’s doubling down, doing the very thing that violated U.S. national security interests in that July phone call with Ukraine’s president. And now he’s openly inviting foreign interference in U.S. elections on the White House lawn.
“From the very first days of our nation, the founders were intent on ensuring that foreign entities did not influence America’s democratic system,” writes Michael Sozan of the Center for Americans Progress. “They knew that foreign involvement in U.S. elections or policymaking posed an enormous threat to our sovereignty and that a president who would invite foreign interference for his own political benefit would be subject to impeachment.”
Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
