Donald Trump’s public call for Ukraine and China to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, has led to a wave of backlash from both Democrats and Republicans. Trump’s Republican primary challenger, Joe Walsh, slammed the president as a “traitor” for his comments, and Utah Senator Mitt Romney called them “brazen and unprecedented.”
During an appearance on ABC’s This Week , Rep. Jim Jordan addressed Trump’s controversial comments. In particular, he said that Trump’s call on China to investigate the Bidens was a joke that was meant to get the press “all spun up,” Axios reports.
“George, you really think he was serious about thinking that China’s going to investigate the Biden family?” Jordan asked the program’s host, George Stephanopoulos.
“I think Senator Rubio said it a couple of days ago. I think he’s getting the press all spun up about this,” he continued, adding that Trump has been tougher on China than any president before him.
According to Jordan, Trump was attempting to “underscore how wrong it is” that Hunter was able to land a position at the Ukraine energy company, Burisma, without any experience.
In addition to Jordan, Senators Marco Rubio and Roy Blunt made similar comments about Trump’s call on China, suggesting that he wasn’t serious and was trying to “bait the press.”
Here’s the full transcript of President Trump explaining why he’d like Ukraine and China to investigation former VP Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, per WH pool. pic.twitter.com/Qtru0ID3Fb
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) October 3, 2019
Regardless, Trump’s calls to foreign powers haven’t been received warmly by all. Conservative CNN anchor S.E. Cupp used the opening statement of Unfiltered on Saturday to urge Trump’s allies to reconsider their loyalty to the president. She claims that whether his actions are impeachable should not be the primary focus, instead asking his allies to decide how long they will continue to support Trump’s reckless behavior.
Others are supportive of Trump. Tom Fitton, the president of the right-wing group Judicial Watch, called for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to use the “nuclear option” to rewrite the rules for an impeachment trial without a Republican Senate super-majority.
“And if I were the Senate Majority Leader, I’d tell the House, ‘This is dead on arrival, we’re changing the rules, we are going to kill it before it even gets out of the cradle,’” he said, per Raw Story .
Despite Fitton’s calls, McConnell previously said that he would have “no choice” but to take up articles of impeachment if they passed the House and made it to the Senate, suggesting that he’s not willing to break the super-majority rule and will let the Senate vote on Trump’s impeachment.
