Trump says he didn’t bring up Biden during China trade talks

President Trump on Friday said he did not raise Democratic White House candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden with Chinese officials during their trade negotiations this week.

“I have not brought up Joe Biden. China can do whatever they want with respect to the Bidens,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office while seated across from Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.

“We do have to look into corruption, but no it has not been brought up,” he added.

{mosads}The president met Friday with a delegation of Chinese officials for the second of two days of trade negotiations in Washington. The two sides announced a limited agreement, though it must still be written and signed in the coming weeks.

Trump has claimed that Hunter Biden got $1.5 billion from China and alleged it is evidence of corruption involving the former vice president. Hunter Biden has business connections to China, but there is no evidence of how much he’s made or that it had any relation to his father’s work.

Trump last week told reporters that China should investigate Hunter and Joe Biden over unsubstantiated allegations of corruption. He said at the time he had not explicitly asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to open an investigation, but that it was “certainly something we can start thinking about.”

The president’s calls for Beijing to investigate his political rival drew criticism from House Democrats, who late last month launched an impeachment inquiry into Trump over a similar request he made to the Ukrainian president.

Republicans have largely downplayed Trump’s comments about China and the Bidens by insisting that he was joking.

Asked Thursday whether he was in fact joking, Trump demurred.

“China has to do whatever they want,” he said. “If they want to look into something, they can look into it. If they don’t want to look into it, they don’t have to.”