An informal White House adviser on China has reportedly said that he got information on Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden Joe BidenFormer Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick Bloomberg rolls out M ad buy to boost Biden in Florida MORE's son Hunter Biden during a trip to Beijing.

“I got a quite a bit of background on Hunter Biden from the Chinese,” Michael Pillsbury told the Financial Times in an email on Wednesday. The newspaper reported he later denied the email exchange occurred.

Pillsbury previously said that he brought up Biden in China in an interview with Fox News.

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“I tried to bring up the topic in Beijing,” he said, according to a clip posted by The Daily Beast. “Just tell me what happened with Hunter Biden. I have never seen them get so secretive in my entire life.”

"They would discuss ICBM warheads sooner than talk about what Hunter Biden was doing in China with Vice President Biden. That is a big area now where the Chinese know they don’t want any American probe into what happened with Hunter Biden,” Pillsbury added.

A spokesman for Joe Biden's 2020 campaign characterized the action as an effort to "smear" the candidate's family.

“Now we have yet another 'unofficial' China envoy seeking dirt with which to smear the Biden family in the second foreign country that Trump publicly begged to bail out his re-election campaign,” spokesman Andrew Bates told the Financial Times.

“While the president's limited number of vocal defenders have tried claiming that his South Lawn statement asking China to investigate the Biden family somehow wasn't a 'real' request, Pillsbury's admission again lays bare that there is no depth to which Trump will not sink to avoid facing Joe Biden in next year's election,” he added.

The report comes after President Trump Donald John TrumpFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. Former Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick MORE publicly encouraged China and Ukraine to look into the former vice president.

“I would say that President Zelensky, if it were me, I would recommend they start an investigation into the Bidens,” Trump said last week, referring to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. "Because nobody doubts they weren't crooked."

“China should start an investigation into the Bidens," he added.

House Democrats have launched an impeachment inquiry into Trump over his dealings with Ukraine, specifically focusing on his efforts to press the foreign leader to look into Biden.

Trump has denied wrongdoing.

He and his allies have pushed unsubstantiated allegations that Biden and his son Hunter engaged in corrupt behavior. Biden has denied these allegations.

CNN reported last week that Trump mentioned Joe Biden and fellow Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth WarrenOvernight Defense: Appeals court revives House lawsuit against military funding for border wall | Dems push for limits on transferring military gear to police | Lawmakers ask for IG probe into Pentagon's use of COVID-19 funds On The Money: Half of states deplete funds for Trump's 0 unemployment expansion | EU appealing ruling in Apple tax case | House Democrats include more aid for airlines in coronavirus package Warren, Khanna request IG investigation into Pentagon's use of coronavirus funds MORE (D-Mass.) on a June call with China's president Xi Jinping.