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		</div><p>US president Donald Trump has publicly encouraged China to investigate his Democratic political rival Joe Biden.</p>
<p>In doing so, the American leader has snubbed an impeachment inquiry into whether a similar, private appeal to another foreign government violated his oath of office.</p>
<p>Mr Trump said on Thursday at the White House: <em>“China should start an investigation into the Bidens.”</em></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">As the President of the United States, I have an absolute right, perhaps even a duty, to investigate, or have investigated, CORRUPTION, and that would include asking, or suggesting, other Countries to help us out!</p>
<p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1179925259417468928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 4, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>He said he had not previously asked Chinese president Xi Jinping to investigate the former vice president and his son Hunter, but said it is “certainly something we could start thinking about”.</p>
<p>By publicly encouraging China, Mr Trump was amplifying the message he had delivered in private to the president of Ukraine.</p>
<p>That message, revealed by a government whistleblower, has spawned the impeachment investigation by the US House of Representatives. Mr Trump, who has defended his contact with Ukraine as “perfect”, went further in expanding his request to China, a communist world power that has much at stake in its relationship with the US in an ongoing trade war.</p>
<p>The boldness of Mr Trump’s call also suggests he will continue to act as though requests for other countries to investigate potential opponents in the 2020 election are normal, even in the face of broad condemnation from Democrats and some Republicans.</p>
<p>It is a tactic Mr Trump has used successfully before, pushing questionable secret conversations into the open, helping to inoculate him against charges that he is engaged in nefarious action, cover-ups or the obstruction of justice.</p>
<p>Mr Trump doubled down on his comments later on Thursday, saying in a tweet: <em>“As the President of the United States, I have an absolute right, perhaps even a duty, to investigate, or have investigated, CORRUPTION, and that would include asking, or suggesting, other Countries to help us out!”</em></p>
<p>Vice president Mike Pence stepped in to defend Mr Trump earlier in the day, saying Americans have a right to know about the wrongdoing the president alleges, despite no evidence to support wrongdoing by Mr Biden, a top contender for the 2020 Democratic nomination.</p>
<p>Mr Biden’s campaign chairman said Mr Trump’s assertions merely show he fears facing Mr Biden in next year’s election.</p>
<p>House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, who has a leading role in US congress’ impeachment inquiry, said Mr Trump’s comments suggest “he feels he can do anything with impunity”.</p>
<p>Mr Trump’s appeal to China evoked his public call in 2016 for Russia to track down his then-rival Hillary Clinton’s emails — a move that was seen as an unprecedented appeal for foreign election interference.</p>
<p>It is a violation of US federal campaign finance law to solicit anything of value from a foreign government to help a campaign.</p>
<p>In the case of both Ukraine and China, Mr Trump has made his allegations against Mr Biden without evidence of any wrongdoing.</p>
<p>The president and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani have for days been raising suspicions about Hunter Biden’s business dealings in China, leaning heavily on the writings of conservative author Peter Schweizer.</p>
<p>On Monday, Geng Shuang, a spokesman for China’s ministry of foreign affairs, called the allegation that Chinese government business gave Mr Biden’s son 1.5 billion dollars (£1.21 billion) “totally groundless”.</p>
<p>Mr Trump’s unprompted reference to China on Thursday came moments after he was asked about trade negotiations with the country.</p>
<p>He said: <em>“I have a lot of options on China, but if they don’t do what we want, we have tremendous, tremendous power.”</em></p>
<figure id="attachment_141167" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-141167" style="width: 600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-full wp-image-141167" src="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2.45516525.jpg" alt="HUNTER BIDEN; CHINA CHALLENGES" width="600" height="435" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-141167" class="wp-caption-text">Hunter Biden</figcaption></figure>
<p>He later alleged without evidence that China had a “sweetheart deal” on trade with the US because of the Bidens.</p>
<p>“You know what they call that?” Mr Trump said. “They call that a payoff.”</p>
<p>Mr Trump’s requests for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate the Bidens, as well as Mr Giuliani’s conduct, are at the centre of an intelligence community whistleblower’s complaint that sparked the House Democratic impeachment inquiry last week.</p>
<p>Federal Election Commission chairwoman Ellen Weintraub responded to Mr Trump’s remarks, tweeting a reminder that it is a violation of campaign finance law for anyone to “solicit accept or receive” anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a US election.</p>
<p>The agency polices campaign finance laws. But after a recent resignation, its board does not have enough commissioners to legally meet and take enforcement action.</p>
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<p>Mr Trump himself has faced multiple allegations that he and his children have enriched themselves through his presidential candidacy and time in office, including spending by the US and foreign governments at his properties.</p>
<p>The president has contended that his political life actually has cost him money, though he is the first major presidential candidate in modern history to refuse to release tax returns that would provide more detail.</p>
<p>Mr Trump has sought to implicate Biden and his son in the kind of corruption that has long plagued Ukraine.</p>
<p>Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, at the same time that his father was leading the Obama administration’s diplomatic dealings with Kiev. Mr Trump encouraged Mr Zelenskiy to work with Mr Giuliani, and also volunteered the assistance of Attorney General William Barr to investigate the Bidens.</p>
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