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 CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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