Early in April, the Trump campaign released an ad that hit at Joe and Hunter Biden’s potentially corrupt ties to China. Clearly the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak will be a campaign issue in the months ahead.
To counter this ad, Politico released a supposedly blockbuster report on Trump’s ties to China. The article was titled “Trump owes tens of millions to the Bank of China – and the loan is due soon.”
The problem? The piece is completely false. It is true that the Bank of China did participate in refinancing a mortgage on a Trump property (approx. 22% of the deal) back in 2012. That financial interest lasted exactly 22 days.
Democrats, celebrities and others in the NeverTrump world immediately tried to propagandize the story as showing Trump being corrupt in his ties with China.
Trump’s tough on China bluster obscures the fact he owes tens of millions to the Bank of China which is in effect the Chinese Government. No US bank will lend to him anymore because of his multiple bankruptcies. The loan is due in 2022.
— Barbra Streisand (@BarbraStreisand) April 25, 2020
Then there was Jennifer Rubin, who writes for the Washington Post.
Whoa, whoa!!! This is why there is an emoluments clause. Presidents cannot have financial interests dependent on foreign govts. https://t.co/1RNItpAQ26 via @politico
— Jen "get knocked down, get back up " Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) April 24, 2020
Then there was Glenn Kessler who leads the “Fact Checker” feature for the Washington Post.
Hmmm —> Trump owes tens of millions to the Bank of China — and the loan is due soon – POLITICO https://t.co/kiooWgVBJn
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) April 24, 2020
Hmm…I guess he did not do much fact checking on this.
The New York Times got in on the act.
Even as Trump seeks to make China a part of his campaign against Biden, the president actually owes China tens of millions of dollars in debt that comes due in 2022. @MarcACaputo @meridithmcgraw @anitakumar01 https://t.co/Zp9XKoqtD6
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) April 24, 2020
Of course, Sleepy Joe Biden’s director of rapid response Andrew Bates had to get in on the act.
Trump owes the Bank of China millions for helping him acquire one of his most valuable properties. The loan comes due in the middle of the next presidential term.
Remember how much he echoed Chinese government propaganda about the virus being contained?https://t.co/sofIIRCrpG
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewBatesNC) April 24, 2020
There were many others who inhabit the TDS world that also joined in. Any first journalism student could have dug up the correct information very quickly. However, in these times there are few journalists in the MSM. Most people inhabiting the MSM world are just publicists for the Democratic Party.
This was all about trying to blunt the fact that the Biden’s are deep into business with China. This has not changed. Once again the media has beclowned themselves in this day and age of internet news.
