Top Senate Finance Committee Democrat Ron Wyden demanded Tuesday that top Trump administration officials answer whether the subject of investigating Joe Biden or his son Hunter Biden was ever discussed in trade talks with China.
“Recent comments by administration officials have left me deeply concerned that U.S. economic interests are taking a back seat to President Trump’s personal interests in China,” Wyden wrote in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Similar letters were sent to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and White House trade policy adviser Peter Navarro.
Wyden cites as the primary reason for his concern an Oct. 24 CNN interview of Navarro in which the trade adviser was asked if he had ever brought up investigating Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, or any other potential 2020 election opponent of Trump during the talks with China. Navarro responded that he could not discuss private negotiations publicly, claiming that would just invite other questions on the talks by the media.
“They’ll force administration officials like me to have to reveal things that are happening behind closed doors in negotiations. I’m not going to talk about that stuff. If I answer that question, then you’ll ask me another question,” Navarro said.
Wyden disputed Navarro’s stance. “The American people have every right to know if negotiators are using United States’ trade policy to advance President Trump’s personal and political interests.”
