Washington, D.C. - Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement, following Donald Trump publicly linking trade talks to investigations of Trump’s political rivals.
“Linking trade negotiations to Donald Trump’s wide-ranging effort to fabricate foreign accusations against political rivals is a complete abuse of the powers of the president," Wyden said. “I am increasingly concerned that he is using the leverage of trade threats for personal gain, just as he did with foreign aid to Ukraine. The Chinese communist government has a long record of concocting false evidence to convict political enemies, and I have no doubt they would happily fabricate evidence against the American president’s enemies in exchange for trade concessions from the United States. Officials at the White House, Treasury Department and USTR must explain whether Trump’s campaign to generate foreign dirt against his political rivals has been raised in the context of trade talks, and produce any relevant documents."
