Trump brought up Joe Biden during a June phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping
- During a June phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Donald Trump brought up former Vice President Joe Biden's political prospects, CNN reported Thursday, as well as those of Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who by that time had started surging in the polls.
- CNN reported that a transcript of the call was moved to a highly classified, codeword level computer server in the National Security Council that's typically only used to store information pertaining to US national security.
- According to a whistleblower complaint, the server also houses the transcript of a July 25 call Trump had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which he repeatedly pressured Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter.
- There's no evidence of wrongdoing or illegal activity on the part of either Biden in Ukraine or China, despite the president's allegations.
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President Donald Trump mentioned former Vice President Joe Biden in a June phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, CNN reported Thursday.
During their conversation, Trump brought up Biden's political prospects, the report said, as well as those of Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who by that time had started surging in the polls. The president also reportedly told Xi he would stay mum on the raging protests in Hong Kong as China and the US discussed trade.
CNN reported that a transcript of the call was moved to a highly classified, codeword level computer server in the National Security Council that's typically only used to store information pertaining to US national security.
According to a whistleblower complaint, the server also houses the transcript of a July 25 call Trump had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which he repeatedly pressured Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter.
The Trump administration had decided to withhold a nearly $400 million military-aid package to Ukraine a few days before, and that raised questions about whether the US president was dangling taxpayer dollars for his own political benefit.
Revelations about Trump's call with Xi come following a series of remarks he made on the White House lawn Thursday, among which he called for China and Ukraine to investigate Biden.
"China should start an investigation into the Bidens because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine," Trump said to reporters. "So, I would say that President Zelensky, if it were me, I would recommend that they start an investigation into the Bidens."
There's no evidence of wrongdoing or illegal activity on the part of either Biden in Ukraine or China, despite the president's allegations.
However, it was not immediately clear if China would investigate the Bidens, though CNN reported that a Trump ally outside the White House received a message from the country's government asking if the president was serious in his suggestion that China could get involved in an investigation.
"This is quite chaotic," one Chinese official told CNN. "We do not want to get in the middle of the US politics."
Trump's call with Zelensky, moreover, sparked a formal impeachment inquiry into him by the House of Representatives. On Thursday, Kurt Volker, the former US special envoy to Ukraine, testified to Congress as part of the impeachment probe.