Warren calls for transcript of Trump’s call with Chinese leader to be released

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is calling for the White House to release a transcript of President Trump’s call with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping from June after a report that Trump mentioned her and fellow Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on the call.

“Trump can say what he wants about me, but it’s outrageous that any president would sell out the people of Hong Kong behind closed doors,” Warren tweeted.

“The public must see the transcript of Trump’s call with Xi. And we need a leader who will stand up for our values,” she added.

Trump can say what he wants about me, but it’s outrageous that any president would sell out the people of Hong Kong behind closed doors.

The public must see the transcript of Trump’s call with Xi. And we need a leader who will stand up for our values.

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 3, 2019

Warren weighed in after CNN reported Thursday that Trump mentioned Biden and Warren’s “political prospects” during a June 18 call with Xi.{mosads}

During the call, Trump also reportedly told the foreign leader that he would stay quiet about protests in Hong Kong while the U.S. and China pursued trade talks.

The record of the call was stored in a secure electronic system where Trump’s July call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was also kept, CNN reported.

The report comes amid heightened scrutiny over the president’s efforts to get foreign powers to investigate his political rivals heading into the 2020 election.

Trump on Thursday publicly encouraged China and Ukraine to look into Biden, similar action to what sparked House Democrats to launch a formal impeachment inquiry in September.

“China should start an investigation into the Bidens,” Trump said in front of cameras Thursday, adding that Ukraine should also look into the Bidens.

Biden’s campaign slammed Trump’s comments in a statement, calling them “a grotesque choice of lies over truth and self over country.”

Trump has for days defended his July 25 conversation with the Ukrainian leader amid scrutiny over his remarks, which were at the heart of a whistleblower complaint filed later.

Trump asked Zelensky to investigate Biden and encouraged him to work with his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on the matter, according to a memo released by the White House. 

Trump and his GOP allies have been pursuing unproven corruption allegations against Biden involving a prosecutor in Ukraine who was looking into an energy company on whose board his son Hunter Biden sat. No evidence of wrongdoing has emerged on the part of either Biden.

“Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it… It sounds horrible to me,” Trump was quoted telling the Ukrainian president in the White House summary released last week. 

Warren and Biden are considered front-runners in a crowded field vying for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.