His comments come a day after he openly called for President Xi jinping to look into possible corruption by the Bidens, continuing to spread claims that no evidence has supported. Trump first appeared to link the two prospects speaking to reporters Thursday. The president asserted then that he and the U.S. would have the upper hand on China when high-stakes trade talks resume in Washington next week, saying he has “a lot of options on China” and “if they don't do what we want, we have tremendous power.”

Moments later, unprompted, he issued his invitation for China to examine whether there was wrongdoing by the Bidens.

Trump’s accusations come as his administration remains mired in the impeachment inquiry launched by the House last week stemming from a July phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart in which he also urged a corruption investigation into Biden. Democrats point to Trump’s mysterious decision around the same time to withhold hundreds of billions of dollars in security assistance to Ukraine, with Trump offering evolving rationales for doing so.

Trump’s relationship with China has been hot and cold throughout his presidency. Despite routinely bashing the country and engaging in a yearslong trade war that has begun to adversely affect the U.S. economy, Trump has also spoken warmly about Xi and congratulated him this week on the 70th anniversary of communist rule there.

The president's trade war with China has weighed on U.S. farmers and manufacturers, and spurred hundreds of billions of dollars in tit-for-tat tariffs between the two nations. While Trump often says he could easily wrestle China into making a deal to benefit the U.S, he's also suggested Xi could be trying to wait him out in the hopes he is defeated in next year's election.

On Thursday, CNN reported that Trump mentioned Biden, one of the front-runners in the Democratic race for president, as well as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who's risen steadily in the polls, in a phone call with Xi earlier this year. Trump had said earlier in the day he had not yet asked Xi to investigate the Bidens but indicated a request could come soon.

Democratic investigators are looking to determine whether, in the case of Ukraine, Trump made U.S. aid contingent upon a promise to investigate the Bidens for unsubstantiated allegations of corruption there. Democrats' theories appeared to be reinforced by damaging text messages between State Department officials that lawmakers released late Thursday.

But CNN’s report underscored questions of whether Trump could, or had, similarly dangled a trade deal with China. According to the report, Trump also told Xi during the June conversation that he would refrain from openly discussing pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong — which could have been damaging for Xi — while trade talks continued. Trump has remained largely quiet on the unrest.

Trump and his allies have claimed that Hunter Biden persuaded China’s national bank to invest $1.5 billion in an investment firm he sat on the board of, assertions lawyers for the former vice president's son have denied. George Mesires, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, has told multiple media outlets that Hunter Biden did not have a financial stake in the firm until after his father left public office.

Biden critics have mainly pointed to a trip to China in 2013 that Joe Biden took while he was vice president. Hunter and one of his daughters accompanied his father on the trip, where he arranged a meeting between the vice president and a Chinese banker involved with the firm, though Hunter Biden's lawyer denied any business was conducted on the trip. Shortly after, the firm received its license to operate, but Mesires has said that was in the works long before the China trip.

The president and his allies have also suggested that Biden used his father's influence to get ahead in business — Trump accused Biden on Thursday of giving China a “sweetheart deal” because of his son’s business interests there. He also accused Hunter Biden, without evidence, of receiving a “payoff” from the Chinese.

Mesires told The Washington Post last week that Hunter Biden had not received “any return or compensation” from his investment or role with the firm, and that Trump and his defenders had engaged in a “gross misrepresentation” of Hunter’s role there.

On Friday, Trump appeared to adopt a new line of defense as he spoke with reporters, repeatedly telling them that his main motivator was rooting out corruption, rather than damaging the electoral prospects of any singular political opponent. Asked by one reporter, however, if he could name any corruption investigations he was pursuing that did not involve a political opponent, the president responded that he “would have to look.”