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Rep Jordan: ‘I Don’t Think’ Americans Believe Trump ‘Thinks China Is Going To Investigate’

   DailyWire.com
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, speaks during the House Freedom Caucus news conference on Affordable Care Act replacement legislation on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017.
Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images

On Sunday, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) appeared on ABC’s “This Week.” At the outset of the segment, the representative was asked by host George Stephanopoulos about the appropriateness of President Trump asking China to investigate former vice president and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you think it’s appropriate for President Trump to ask China and Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden?

JORDAN: I think he’s getting – as I think Senator Rubio said a couple days ago – I think he’s getting the press all spun up about this. Remember, this is the president who’s been tougher on China than any other president. He wants to make sure China quits stealing America’s intellectual property. He wants to make sure they start abiding by international trade norms…

STEPHANOPOULOS: He said directly –

JORDAN: He’s put tariffs on China. And you really think he says … the same guy who’s been tougher on China now thinks, oh, China’s going to investigate … he was just making a statement to just underscore how wrong it is what took place here with Hunter Biden getting these deals that he got. That’s all he’s doing.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So the president asked China to investigate. We’re not supposed to take the president at his word?

JORDAN: Again, I think Senator Rubio said it best … you guys would think after three and a half years, you would – with the campaign and everything else – you’d figure out some other way –

STEPHANOPOULOS: But he said in public the exact same thing he said in private to the Ukrainian president.

JORDAN: I wish there would be the same outrage for this, for what the president said about China, the same outrage that there was when … the Clinton campaign and the Democrat National Committee hired a foreigner who worked with Russians to dig up dirt on the president, put it in a document that was given to the Department of Justice, and then the FBI used that document to go to a secret court to spy on the Trump campaign. And you guys outraged about that.

Following some overlap, Stephanopoulos said: “So, should I conclude from that that you don’t think it would be appropriate for the president to ask China to investigate the Bidens?”

Jordan replied:

I think he’s just making this – I’m just telling you what the statement is. You asked me about the statement. I’m saying I don’t think he’s – I don’t think anyone in America really believes – except people maybe in the press and some Democrats in Congress – really believe that the President of the United States thinks China is going to investigate.

As the segment rolled on, Stephanopoulos and Jordan sparred over the question, while Jordan repeatedly brought up Hunter Biden’s alleged business dealings in China, as well as the president’s toughness on trade.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, because you haven’t answered it.

JORDAN: I don’t think he really meant go investigate, because do you think China is going to investigate him?

STEPHANOPOULOS: I don’t know if China is going to investigate him, but I know the president asked China to investigate him.

JORDAN: We know they’re not, George. Come on.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Why can’t you answer yes or no, do you think it’s appropriate.

JORDAN: Because I don’t think that’s what he did. I don’t think that’s what he did.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So – but it was right there on camera.

JORDAN: I think Senator Rubio had it exactly right. … You would think after, like I said, a few years of following this president, you would understand sort of how this guy communicates. I think that is what he’s doing.

On Thursday, President Trump told the press: “China should start an investigation into the Bidens because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine.”

The next day, a reporter asked Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) if it was appropriate for the president “to ask China to launch an investigation of Joe Biden and Hunter Biden?”

Rubio replied: “I don’t know if that’s a real request or him just needling the press knowing that you guys were gonna get outraged by it. He’s pretty good at getting everybody fired up, and he’s been doing it for a while now, and the media responded right on task.”

After some intense backlash, the senator tweeted in part: “You can keep getting played, but I won’t.”

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