Former U.S. President Donald Trump has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to release any damaging information he has about the Biden family.
According to CNN, Trump made the brazen and reckless request to America’s top adversary in an interview published Tuesday.
It’s the latest example of Trump’s willingness to solicit and embrace domestic political help from foreign powers — even from Putin, who is currently overseeing a bloody war against Ukraine.
In an interview with JustTheNews, Trump pushed an unproven claim about Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Russia, and asked Putin to release any information that he might have about the situation. It’s not clear that any material exists, or if the Kremlin has access to it.
“I would think Putin would know the answer to that,” Trump said, referring to Hunter Biden’s potential dealings in Russia.
“I think he should release it. I think we should know that answer.”
Trump’s public appeal to Putin harkens back to his infamous July 2016 comment in which he said, “Russia, if you’re listening,” and then urged Putin to hack Hillary Clinton’s personal emails. It was the start of a years-long effort by Trump to raise his political prospects with foreign help.
The Trump campaign in 2016 also embraced and capitalized on Russia’s election-meddling operation against Clinton.
For instance, the campaign regularly played up Democratic emails that were hacked and leaked by the Russian military, and members of Trump’s inner circle also met during the campaign with a Russian agent who promised dirt on Clinton.
In 2019, Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch unfounded corruption investigations against then-candidate Joe Biden and withheld nearly $400 million in US military aid as part of the scheme.
This incident led to Trump’s first impeachment.
