Donald Trump Asks Vladimir Putin To Release Hunter Biden Information, White House: What Kind Of American Are You?

President Joe Biden with White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield. (Wikimedia Commons/The White House)

JAKARTA - The White House has strongly criticized Donald Trump's request that Russian President Vladimir Putin release potentially misleading information about Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's son, calling it inappropriate in the midst of the war in Ukraine.

Journalists asked White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield about the former president's comments on the TV program 'Just the News', which raised unfounded questions about Hunter Biden's former business dealings in Russia. Trump said, "I think Putin will know the answer. I think he should release it."

His comments come as Western powers seek to persuade President Putin to end his five-week offensive on Ukraine, the biggest European war since World War Two. Meanwhile, Russia called its actions there a "special military operation".

"What kind of American? Let alone a former president, who thinks this is the right time to get into a scheme with Vladimir Putin and brag about his relationship with Vladimir Putin? There's only one, and that's Donald Trump," Bedingfield said, cited from Reuters, March 31.

Furthermore, Trump's remarks came at a week when a federal judge ruled he was 'more likely than not' to commit the crime of trying to overturn his election defeat on January 6, 2021, and because his business is still under investigation.

During the military build-up before the invasion of Ukraine, Donald Trump praised President Putin as a "genius." As soon as the attack started, he cursed it as 'terrible.'

Trump's lengthy search for information on Hunter Biden could politically damage President Joe Biden, leading to the first of his two impeachments, over what presidential aides say is an attempt to withhold nearly $400 million in military aid, as well as a White House visit except for Ukrainian officials announced an investigation into Biden.

During the 2016 presidential campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton, Republicans publicly suggested Russian hackers could help find Clinton's emails, saying, "Russia, if you listen, I hope you can find 30.000 emails."