Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Thursday, Trump reiterated his opinion that Ukraine’s government investigate the Bidens, a similar suggestion he made to newly-minted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a now-infamous phone call in July.

“If they were honest about it, they would start a major investigation into the Bidens,” Trump said. “They should investigate the Bidens. Likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens, because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine.”

“Nobody has any doubt that they weren’t crooked,” the president continued. “That was a crooked deal, 100 percent.”

Democrats allege that Trump pressured Zelensky to reopen an investigation into Hunter Biden’s business activities in Ukraine in a July phone call, in a bid to gather dirt on Joe Biden, former vice president and Democratic candidate in next year’s election. Trump contends that the phone call was a “nothing call,” and a transcript of it showed no evidence of wrongdoing.

Trump also argues that Hunter Biden’s appointment to the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma in 2015 - a position that paid a $50,000 per month salary despite Hunter’s lack of qualifications in the field - was corrupt. He also alleges that Joe Biden, then vice-president, pressed Kiev to quash an anti-corruption probe into Burisma a year later, and used American foreign aid as leverage to do so.

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