共和党众议员吉姆·乔丹:唐纳德·特朗普对中国和乌克兰调查拜登并不认真

       俄亥俄州共和党众议员吉姆·乔丹成为唐纳德·特朗普的最新捍卫者，他质疑记者对总统的信守承诺。

       乔丹在美国广播公司新闻“ 本周日”上发表讲话时，问主持人乔治·斯蒂芬诺普洛斯（George Stephanopoulos）上周在白宫草坪上建议中国和乌克兰应调查其潜在的2020年民主党对手乔·拜登时是否真的相信特朗普是“严肃的” 他本国政府对可疑交易的指控。

       众议院监督委员会排名最高的成员约旦表示，只有新闻媒体和一些民主党人才相信特朗普，他说中国和乌克兰政府应该对拜登人进行调查。

       乔丹的摆脱了总统的话，随后报告第二举报人有第一手的证据表明，特朗普利用试图报偿军事援助的调查与乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔Zelensky拜登在七月的承诺交换。

       “你真的认为他是认真地认为中国将要调查拜登家族吗？” 乔丹回答了斯蒂芬诺普洛斯的问题。“我想参议员马可·卢比奥（Marco Rubio）几天前就说过，[特朗普]正在引起媒体的广泛关注。记住，这位总统对中国的要求比其他任何总统都要强。”

       “所以我应该从这一结论中得出结论，你认为总统要求中国调查拜登一家不合适吗？” 斯蒂芬诺普洛斯问乔丹。

       乔丹回答说：“我只是告诉你这句话是什么。你问我有关那句话的事情。” “我认为美国没有人真正相信-除了新闻界人士和国会中的某些民主党人真的相信美国总统认为中国将进行调查。”

       斯蒂芬诺普洛斯继续直接谴责约旦，因为他对他的问题似乎无动于衷：“你是在告诉我们，不要相信我们亲眼所见。”

       特朗普及其有线新闻捍卫者在总统提出了非常严肃的指控或对他的政治反对派提出批评之后，通常会使用总统在“开玩笑”或不认真的说法。从凯利安·康威（Kellyanne Conway）到他自己的儿子，特朗普的捍卫者经常提出指责，就是新闻界和持不同意见的人的幽默感很差。许多人推测特朗普只是在自发的混乱中壮成长。

       前总统巴拉克·奥巴马（Barack Obama）在2018年1月对戴维·莱特曼（David Letterman）讲话时试图直言为什么他相信现任特朗普或其政府成员经常炫耀真相或使用世俗的辩护：“我们对我们的最大挑战之一民主是我们不同意事实的共同基准。”奥巴马说。

       上周，特朗普在白宫草坪上对记者说，回答了有关要求乌克兰协助调查乔和亨特·拜登的问题：“这是一个非常简单的答案。他们应该调查拜登。……同样，中国应该开始调查拜登（Bidens），因为在中国发生的情况与在乌克兰发生的情况差不多。”

       特朗普律师鲁迪·朱利安尼（Rudy Giuliani）在周日早晨的福克斯新闻（Fox News）露面时对自己对拜登（Biden）的调查以及该家庭据称在乌克兰的商业交易提供了另一种辩护。朱利安尼声称，他于2018年开始调查拜登人-早在乔·拜登（Joe Biden）2019年4月竞选公告之前-为了避免联邦选举委员会违反在美国选举中使用外国政府的帮助。

       更新：白宫发表了关于第二个举报人的声明，星期日下午将要举报：没多少人决定给举报人打同样的电话-总统已经公开打过电话-这并不重要改变他没有做错任何事情的事实。”

GOP CONGRESSMAN JIM JORDAN: DONALD TRUMP WASN'T SERIOUS ABOUT CHINA, UKRAINE INVESTIGATING BIDENS

       Ohio Republican congressman Jim Jordan became the latest defender of Donald Trump to question journalists for taking the president at his word.

       Speaking on ABC News' This Week Sunday, Jordan asked host George Stephanopoulos if he really believed Trump was being "serious" when he suggested in the White House lawn last week that China and Ukraine should investigate his potential 2020 Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, over his own administration's accusations of questionable business dealings.

       Jordan, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, said only members of the news media and some Democrats believed Trump when he said the Chinese and Ukrainian governments should investigate the Bidens.

       Jordan's shrugging off of the president's words followed reports a second whistleblower has firsthand evidence that Trump tried using a quid pro quo exchange of military aid for a promise of investigating the Bidens with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in July.

       "You really think he was serious about thinking that China is going to investigate the Biden family?" Jordan asked in response to Stephanopoulos' question. "I think Senator [Marco] Rubio said it a couple days ago, [Trump] is getting the press all spun up about this. Remember, this is the president who's been tougher on China than any other president."

       "So should I conclude from that that you don't think it would be appropriate for the president to ask China to investigate the Bidens?" Stephanopoulos asked of Jordan.

       "I'm just telling you what the statement is. You asked me about the statement," Jordan responded. "I don't think anyone in America really believes -- except people maybe in the press and some Democrats in Congress really believe that the president of the United States thinks China is going to investigate."

       Stephanopoulos went on to chastise Jordan directly for his seemingly oblivious responses to his questions: "You're telling us not to believe what we see with our own eyes, right there."

       Trump and his cable news defenders have routinely used the claim the president is "joking" or not being serious, after he has made very serious accusations or floated criticisms of his political opponents. A frequent accusation made by Trump defenders ranging from Kellyanne Conway to his own sons is that the press and anyone with dissenting views simply has a bad sense of humor. Many have speculated that Trump simply thrives in self-made chaos.

       Speaking to David Letterman in January 2018, former President Barack Obama tried to put a finger on why he believed Present Trump or members of his administration frequently flaunt the truth or use the jocular defense: "One of the biggest challenges that we have to our democracy is the degree to which we do not share a common baseline of facts," Obama said.

       Speaking in the White House lawn to reporters last week, Trump responded to questions about asking Ukraine for assistance in investigating Joe and Hunter Biden: "It's a very simple answer. 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."

       Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani offered another defense of his own investigation into Biden and the family's alleged business dealings in Ukraine during a Sunday morning Fox News appearance. Giuliani claimed he started investigating the Bidens in 2018--well before Joe Biden's April 2019 campaign announcement--in order to avoid Federal Election Commission violations against using foreign government help in U.S. elections.

       Update: The White House issued a statement regarding the second whistleblower coming forward Sunday afternoon: It doesn't matter how many people decide to call themselves whistleblowers about the same telephone call--a call the President already made public--it doesn't change the fact that he has done nothing wrong."