Trump suggests to Ukraine and China they probe "crooked" Bidens

Moments before boarding Marine One, President Donald Trump spoke to White House reporters assembled outside of the South Portico about Joe Biden and his son’s dealings in Ukraine.

The President: "Well, if you look at the whistleblower's complaint, it's totally inaccurate because the conversation that I had was absolutely perfect and most people that have read it say the same thing. The whistleblower never saw the conversation. He got his information, I guess, second or third hand. He wrote something that was total fiction and now when people see that, they're not happy."

When asked about the state of the economy, Trump, who said that his administration was going to meet with Chinese officials next week in Washington, took the opportunity to take another swipe at Democrats.

The President: "Well, we're looking at a lot of different things. China's coming in next week. We're going to have a meeting with them; we'll see. But we're doing very well. The numbers, I think, are being affected by all of the nonsense, all of the politics going on in this country by the Democrats. I call them the do nothings. They do nothing for this country. They don't care about this country.

"But the numbers really are looking very good going into the future, so we'll see. I have a lot of options on China but if they don't do what we want, we have tremendous power."

The questions pivoted back to Ukraine and the Bidens. Trump was asked what he hoped Ukrainian President Zelenskiy would do about Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

The President: "Well, I would think if they were honest about it, they'd start a major investigation into the Bidens. It's a very simple answer. They should investigate the Bidens because how does a company that's newly formed, and all these companies – and by the way, likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine.

"So I would say that President Zelenskiy if it were me, I would recommend that they start an investigation into the Bidens because nobody has any doubt that they weren't crooked. That was a crooked deal, a hundred percent. He had no knowledge of energy, didn't know the first thing about it, all of a sudden he's getting $50,000 a month plus a lot of other things. Nobody has any doubt and they got rid of a prosecutor who was a very tough prosecutor. They got rid of him. Now they're trying to make it the opposite way, but they got rid. So if I were the president, I would certainly recommend that of Ukraine."

The President: "I haven't, but it's certainly something we can start thinking about because I'm sure that President Xi does not like being under that kind of scrutiny where billions of dollars is taken out of his country by a guy that just got kicked out of the navy. He got kicked out of the navy, all of a sudden he's getting billions of dollars. You know what they call that? They call that a pay off."

Ukrainian President Zelenskiy stated last week that he is considering investigating Joe Biden and his son Hunter.