CNBC’s Eamon Javers deserves a medal. It is not every day a reporter actually asks an intelligent and worthwhile question of the White House that is both fair and puts the president on the spot.
President Trump claimed this week that it is his duty as commander-in-chief to root out corruption wherever he sees it, even if it means enlisting the aid of foreign governments.
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“It is done all the time,” Trump claimed in an Oct. 4 tweet, justifying his decision to ask China and Ukraine to investigate 2020 Democratic front-runner Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. “This has NOTHING to do with politics or a political campaign against the Bidens. This does have to do with their corruption!”
As President I have an obligation to end CORRUPTION, even if that means requesting the help of a foreign country or countries. It is done all the time. This has NOTHING to do with politics or a political campaign against the Bidens. This does have to do with their corruption!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2019
The president repeated this assertion Friday during a brief back-and-forth with reporters.
“I don’t care about politics, but I do care about corruption,” said the president. “And this whole thing is about corruption.”
He added, “And if you look and you read our Constitution and many other things, we – I have an obligation to look at corruption. I have an actual obligation and a duty.”
This is where Javers stepped in, asking a very simple, but difficult, question.
“Have you asked foreign leaders for any corruption investigations that don’t involve your political opponents? That is, are there other cases where you’ve asked for corruption investigations?” the CNBC reporter asked.
This was an excellent question.
I am in awe of this question. I want to take it home and introduce it to my parents. I want to grow old with this question. There is no fat on that question. It is a lean and straightforward line of inquiry. More importantly, it serves the public interest. If Trump is as dedicated to the mission of rooting out corruption as he claims, then the natural follow-up is: Has he ever sought a corruption investigation for a matter that does not directly benefit his own interests? Surely, there must be one such instance. Luckily for us, a reporter was savvy enough Friday to ask the obvious.
Tellingly, the president did not have an answer.
“You know, we would have to look. But I tell you, what I asked for and what I always will ask for is anything having to do with corruption with respect to our country,” Trump said. “If a foreign country can help us with respect to corruption and corruption probes, and that – I don’t care if it’s Biden or anybody else.”
He added, “But if they can help us – if Biden is corrupt, if his son is corrupt … that’s no good.”
After years of inane, self-serving theatrics from the White House press corps, including reporters looking to score viral gold with insipid questions like “has the president at any time thought about stepping down before or now?” and “Don’t you have any empathy?” and one reporter even going so far as to recite poetry during a briefing, Javers’ question is like a life-giving oasis. What a wonderful, refreshing change of pace. With any luck, this could become a trend.
