2020 Democratic candidate Joe Biden on Saturday night walked back his declaration that he would not comply with a potential subpoena in President Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial.
“I would obey any subpoena that was sent to me,” Biden told town hall participants in Fairfield, Iowa.
The candidate said the point he was making in his previous comments about subpoenas is that “the only rational reason” for him to be called to testify in the impeachment trial would be if he could shed light on whether Trump “committed the crimes he’s accused of.”
“And there’s no reason to believe I would have any notion of whether he committed that crime,” he continued.
Biden had told the Des Moines Register on Friday that he stood by his stated refusal to cooperate if the GOP-controlled Senate subpoenaed him for a testimony, which Biden said would only serve to “take of the focus off” of Trump’s wrongdoing.
On Saturday morning, the former vice president clarified that while he has “always complied with a lawful order,” he was “just not going to pretend that there is any legal basis for Republican subpoenas” in the impeachment trial.
Watch Biden below:
Biden reverses his refusal to comply with a potential subpoena in Trump's impeachment trial: "I would obey any subpoena that was sent to me." pic.twitter.com/8GyHTxQALc
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) December 29, 2019
I know there will be a Tsunami of Gloom here on this one, but I don’t think so. It heads off some things which don’t need to be at issue.
And it renders all the more noticeable the GOP tendency to, well, be lawless.
It wasn’t a backtrack. He just provided a preface to assuage the NPR liberals. Biden won’t blindly promise to abide any subpoena here because any such subpoena is fundamentally illegitimate and obviously so. He has no evidence or testimony of value or relevance to provide regarding Trump’s misconduct.
While he said, “I would obey any subpoena that was sent to me”, he went on to say there was no legitimate reason for him to receive a subpoena as he was not a witness to Trump’s wrongdoing.
I don’t think it’s fair to say he backtracked, as he’s essentially saying the same thing. I expect he’ll fight any subpoena sent to him by the Senate as it pertains to the Impeachment trial.
Word.
Strategically, the Senate can’t have a short, trial and still call Biden, as he’ll fight their subpoena. They can’t call Biden, and yet, not allow Dems to call their witnesses.
So, if they open this can of worms, I would expect Roberts would command direct witnesses like Pompeo, Mulvaney, Duffey, among others to testify while recusing Biden. If he’s on the up and up. A big if, I do realize.