Rob Portman calls Trump’s request for China to probe Biden ‘not appropriate’
Sen. Rob Portman said on Monday it was “not appropriate” for President Donald Trump to ask Ukraine and China to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, joining a small group of Republicans to express concern over Trump's calls for foreign countries to become involved in U.S. elections.
The Ohio Republican told The Columbus Dispatch that while the president’s actions do not amount to “an impeachable offense” in his view, he believes Trump made a mistake in mixing his own domestic politics with foreign policy. Trump raised Biden in a conversation with the Ukrainian president in July and last week said "China should start an investigation into the Bidens."
“The president should not have raised the Biden issue on that call, period. It’s not appropriate for a president to engage a foreign government in an investigation of a political opponent,” Portman said on Monday.
The president praised Portman as "honorable" last week for corroborating his explanation of why Ukraine aid got held up. The second-term senator said Trump had explained to him it was because he believed European allies needed to do more, not because he needed Ukraine to probe Biden as a condition to receive the money. Portman was among the senators in both parties pressing Trump to release the aid to Ukraine to help counter Russian influence in the region.
Trump's calls for foreign probes into Biden are the centerpiece of House Democrats' impeachment efforts. Portman urged the House to be “very careful” before moving forward on impeachment and lamented that his style of bipartisan legislating will take a hit.
Portman joins Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) in expressing concern for the president’s calls for China to probe Biden. A number of other Republicans have insisted the president wasn’t serious when he made those comments last Friday.
“I doubt if the China comment was serious to tell you the truth,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said on “Face the Nation” Sunday. “I don't know what the president was thinking. But I do know he loves to bait the press and he does that almost every day to see what you'll talk about.”
