U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson says he doesn’t think there’s anything “improper” about President Trump urging China to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his family.
Speaking with reporters at the White House Thursday, Trump called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open a corruption investigation into the Bidens. But when asked what action he wanted Zelensky to take, the president raised the prospect of China probing the Bidens as well.
“I would think that if they were honest about it, they would start a major investigation into the Bidens. It’s a very simple answer,” Trump said. “Likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens. Because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine.”
Asked about those comments after a visit to Serendipity Labs in Madison, Johnson, R-Oshkosh, said he didn’t believe “there’s anything improper about doing that” but added “an awful lot of those investigations can occur here in America.”
But the Oshkosh Republican pushed back when asked by reporters if he had a problem with Trump urging a foreign adversary to investigate a Dem presidential candidate.
“It’s not investigating that,” Johnson said. “Obviously in this case, this doesn’t look very good, but there are plenty of unanswered questions about what happened with Hunter Biden and his group in terms of attracting capital from China.”
He added that he didn’t trust China “any further than I can throw them” but said “you may need them to cooperate” with an investigation into a “potential crime.”
“There’s nothing improper about asking another government where we have those types of investigative agreements with to provide information for the investigation,” Johnson said. “That that’s the way things work.”
