Former Vice President Joe Biden said he wouldn’t comply with any possible congressional subpoena for his testimony if the Senate holds an impeachment trial because it would take the focus off of President Trump.
Biden made the remarks during an interview with the Des Moines Register, calling the current state of impeachment a “a sad moment for our country.”
“What are you going to cover?” Biden asked the Des Moines Register when he was asked if he’d comply with a subpoena or testify voluntarily. “You guys are going to cover for three weeks anything that I said. And (Trump’s) going to get away. You guys buy into it all the time. Not a joke … Think what it’s about. It’s all about what he does all the time, his entire career. Take the focus off. This guy violated the Constitution. He said it in the driveway of the White House. He acknowledged he asked for help.”
Biden has found himself at the center of President Trump’s impeachment while he runs for the Democratic nomination for president. Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani — who Biden called a “thug” in the same interview — spent months coordinating a pressure campaign to get the Ukrainian government to open an investigation into Biden’s son Hunter Biden as well as the 2016 election.
“No one’s taken as much heat and as many lies thrown at them as I have, but again, this is not about me. It’s not about my family. It’s about the nation. And we have to reach out and unify this country,” Biden told the Des Moines Register.
In a series of tweets, Biden clarified his stance on complying with a subpoena, saying he refused to pretend like there’s a legal basis for him testifying before the Senate.
I want to clarify something I said yesterday. In my 40 years in public life, I have always complied with a lawful order and in my eight years as VP, my office — unlike Donald Trump and Mike Pence — cooperated with legitimate congressional oversight requests.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 28, 2019
The subpoenas should go to witnesses with testimony to offer to Trump’s shaking down the Ukraine government — they should go to the White House.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 28, 2019
