GOP presidential candidate Mark Sanford said the unsubstantiated corruption allegations made by President Trump against political opponent Joe Biden “reeks” of nepotism and “good ol’ boy politics,” while blasting the president’s communications with Ukraine.
“It reeks of nepotism and good ‘ol boy politics that I think everybody struggles with,” Sanford told Hill.TV during an interview on “Rising.”
“You have two concurrent problems — I’m not in any way diminishing that, but you do have a real problem when the president goes and says, ‘Lets go help a foreign power investigate a domestic political foe,’ ” he added.
Sanford’s comments come as Trump faces an impeachment inquiry launched by House Democrats over allegations from a whistleblower that he pressured Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
Trump on Thursday also publicly called on China to open an investigation into the Bidens.
Biden has condemned Trump’s attacks against him. He called Trump’s remarks on China “a grotesque choice of lies over truth and self over country.”
Sanford is one of three Republicans who have said they will run against Trump in 2020, though none of them are seen as serious challengers for the GOP nomination.
Trump told reporters on Friday that he remains confident that he would ultimately be exonerated by Senate Republicans even though even though he believes Democrats have enough votes to impeach him.
—Tess Bonn
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