Donald Trump apparently thinks if he says something shady out loud, it absolves him of wrongdoing. But he’s absolutely incorrect. Today, on the White House south lawn he asked China to investigate Joe Biden and it sure seemed like he made it clear he has something to hold over the country’s head.
Trump on China trade talks: "If they don't do what we want, we have tremendous power." …
One minute later: "China should start an investigation into the Bidens."— David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) October 3, 2019
And he’s brazenly still urging Ukraine to investigate Biden as well.
Here's the video: Trump is now openly urging the leaders of Ukraine and China to investigate one of his political rivals.
Via CSPAN pic.twitter.com/xKOSRosyck— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 3, 2019
Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff reacted saying, “A 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 the President’s oath of office.”
#NEW: Rep. Adam Schiff on Pres. Trump urging China & Ukraine to investigate the Biden family’s dealings: "Once again, you have the President of the United States suggesting, urging a foreign country to interfere in our presidential elections." pic.twitter.com/CVTX3yOTnv
— Jenn Franco KESQ (@jennfranconews) October 3, 2019
MSNBC’s Sam Stein remarked, “Just to be clear, Trump is currently, this morning, calling on foreign leaders to investigate Biden in the midst of an impeachment proceeding about whether he has encouraged foreign leaders to investigate Biden.”
each time Trump invites another country (now China) to interfere in our election it's another impeachment article. He's incredibly stupid.
— Jennifer Truth Over Phony Balance Rubin 🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@JRubinBlogger) October 3, 2019
CNN’s Daniel Dale adds, “If a whistleblower had come forward to say Trump had privately told Xi he should launch an investigation into the Bidens, it’d be a huge story. That’s what Trump just did publicly.”
I’ve lived in China & covered it for decades. It is an authoritarian country with no credible rule of law which imprisons & kills political opponents. For a US president to call on such a country to investigate an American is incredible. Will Republicans who know this object?
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) October 3, 2019
And Trump sure gave Congress more damning material to add to their inquiry.
Dear @realDonaldTrump: There you go again.
Soliciting a foreign power to investigate your political opponent is an abuse of power. That's why Congress started a formal impeachment inquiry.
The fact you are doing this in the open only makes it worse for you.#ThursdayWisdom https://t.co/TZEUkf489V
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) October 3, 2019
Watch more above.