Jordan refuses to say whether Trump asking China for investigation was appropriate

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Sunday repeatedly refused to say whether he believed it was inappropriate for President Trump to call for Chinese authorities to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

“You really think he was serious about thinking China’s going to investigate the Biden family? I think he’s getting the press all spun up about this,” Jordan said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday as host George Stephanopoulos repeatedly pressed him on the appropriateness of the statement Trump made last week.

{mosads}“He was just making a statement to underscore how wrong what took place here is. I don’t think anyone in America really believes the president of the United states thinks China is going to investigate,” Jordan said. “I think he’s saying what’s on the minds of so many Americans: How does the vice president’s son get a billion dollars from a subsidiary of the Bank of China?”

Ranking member of the House Oversight Committee Rep. Jim Jordan on Pres. Trump’s public comment that China should investigate the Bidens: “As Senator Rubio said a couple days ago, I think he’s getting the press all spun up about this.” https://t.co/zGLt1Eh2Zr pic.twitter.com/8kjiseRyd9

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 6, 2019

“That’s not a fact, and it’s not true. The Chinese have denied it as well,” Stephanopoulos countered.

“You’re telling us not to believe what we see with our own eyes. It’s right there,” Stephanopoulos later said as Jordan pivoted to repeating allegations about Hunter Biden.

“We’ve been going 10 minutes. You can’t tell us whether it’s right or wrong,” the ABC host eventually said, with Jordan responding, “I just don’t think that’s what the president was really saying.”

Jordan, one of Trump’s most vocal allies in the House, has consistently defended the president since a whistleblower report led House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to announce an impeachment inquiry, repeating his baseless allegations against the Bidens last weekend in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper that Tapper fact-checked in real time.

In the earlier interview, Jordan repeated multiple White House defenses of the call, including claiming without evidence that the whistleblower was partisan and falsely asserting that the whistleblower complaint process had recently been amended to remove a requirement that complaints derive from firsthand information.