Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate finance committee, has asked the Trump administration to make clear whether the president or his cabinet had attempted to link the US-China trade negotiations to any request to find dirt on former vice-president Joe Biden.
In a letter to several cabinet secretaries — including Steven Mnuchin, Treasury secretary, and Mike Pompeo, secretary of state — Mr Wyden said he was “deeply concerned” that recent comments by two of Donald Trump’s advisers had suggested that the president was attempting to connect his personal political interests with efforts to reach a deal to end the US-China trade war.
Mr Wyden said he became concerned after Mike Pillsbury, an informal White House China adviser, told the Financial Times that he received details about Hunter Biden’s Chinese business activities during a trip to China, in remarks that came after Mr Trump urged Beijing to investigate Mr Biden, a top contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, and his son Hunter.