The US president has this time invited China to investigate the family of Joe Biden. In the Republican Party, this leap forward has not been criticized.
On the defensive since the House Democrats called an impeachment procedure, Trump tried to retake the initiative in his own way on Thursday (October 3rd). By the overbid. While leaving the White House for a trip to Florida, the US President has publicly invited Ukraine and China to investigate one of his political opponents, former Vice President Joe Biden , and on his son Hunter.
Donald Trump had already suggested to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to embark on such an undertaking during a telephone conversation on 25 July, which is behind the impeachment procedure. He responded Thursday morning to the question he had dodged the day before, in a tone more and more threatening, despite the relentless relaunch of Reuters reporter, Jeff Mason.
"What did you expect Zelensky to do exactly about the Biden after your call? "he was asked.
"I think if they were honest, they would open a big investigation on the Bidens. It's a very simple answer. They should investigate Biden (…) And, by the way, China should also open an investigation into the Biden, because what happened in China is as serious as what happened with Ukraine ".
Asked if he had already discussed the subject with his counterpart Xi Jinping, Donald Trump replied:
"That's not the case, but it's certainly something we can start thinking about. "
Climbing
No Republican publicly criticized Thursday this escalation. The Financial Times assured to have contacted individually the fifty-three senators of the Grand Old Party whose vote would be decisive in the event of the adoption of an indictment by the House of Representatives. Not one answered, according to the daily.
This invitation launched Thursday in Beijing recalled the "Russia, if you listen …", launched after the Republican nomination in Cleveland in July 2016. The Republican candidate then asked that country to look for the thousands of e-mails that his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton claimed to have removed because they were according to her activities private. Asked in writing by the special prosecutor of the investigation of the Russian interference during the presidential, Robert Mueller, the president of the United States had assured that the formula was wanted "Ironic"that she had been "Jokingly pronounced", "as any objective observer could have concluded". No humor was noticeable Thursday.
Privileged target of the American conservative press, Hunter Biden served on the board of directors of a Ukrainian gas company from 2014 to 2019. He invested in China in consulting activities in 2013, when his father held the post of vice -president (2009-2017). Beyond an undeniable mix of genres, he has never been worried by the justice of these two countries.
This counter-attack by Donald Trump aims to shift attention to the former vice president while he finds himself in an ethically delicate position given his decision not to break ties with his real estate empire now managed by his sons by acceding to the presidency. Donald Trump has proposed in August that the next summit of the G7, planned in the United States, be held in one of its properties in Florida.
Donald Trump's provocation came as the House of Representatives closed the nine-hour US Special Envoy for Ukraine, diplomat Kurt Volker, who resigned Sept. 27. . According to the American press, the latter said he had warned, at the time, the personal lawyer of Donald Trump in this case, Rudy Giuliani, against the Attorney General Yuriy Lutsenko on which he relied to put in question the Biden family. The diplomat considered the prosecutor as unreliable.
Change of strategy
Thursday, the Wall Street Journal further confirmed Rudy Giuliani's prominent role in ensuring that he was instrumental in the dismissal of US Ambassador to Kiev Marie Yovanovitch in May. According to the business daily, the president's lawyer accused him of obstructing his efforts to open an investigation into the Biden family by the Ukrainian authorities. The New York Times for his part that the lawyer had closely followed the efforts of two diplomats, including Kurt Volker, to write a statement intended to be taken over by the Ukrainian President in which he made public the commitment to open the doors. suggested by Donald Trump. This statement has never been pronounced.
In the early evening, a message published on his Twitter account dedicated the change of presidential strategy. After initially denying having asked for such a service to Ukraine, Donald Trump asserted that " As President of the United States, I have the absolute right, indeed the duty, to investigate or investigate corruption, even if it includes asking or suggesting other countries to help us! ".
This bidding pushed the president of the federal electoral commission to republish Thursday on Twitter a reminder to order already expressed in June. "Allow me to clarify 100% something to the American public and to anyone who is running for public officewrote Ellen Weintraub. It is illegal for anyone to solicit, accept or receive anything of value from a foreign national in a US election. This is not a new concept. "
There is no doubt for Democrats that Donald Trump's dealings with Ukraine and China fall into this category.
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