Returning to the campaign trail after Christmas, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Friday stood by his comments that he would not comply with a subpoena to testify at President Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate.
In a meeting with the editorial board of The Des Moines Register, whose endorsement in the Iowa caucuses is coveted by presidential hopefuls, Mr. Biden argued that complying with a subpoena and testifying would essentially allow Mr. Trump to succeed in shifting attention onto Mr. Biden and away from the president’s own actions.
“The reason I wouldn’t is because it’s all designed to deal with Trump doing what he’s done his whole life: trying to take the focus off him,” Mr. Biden said. “The issue is not what I did.”
“This is all about a diversion,” Mr. Biden added. “And we play his game all the time. He’s done it his whole career.”
Mr. Biden met with The Register at the beginning of a two-day visit to Iowa. He boarded his “No Malarkey” campaign bus later Friday and headed to Williamsburg for an event there, to be followed by additional stops on Saturday.
Mr. Biden had previously said that he would not comply with a subpoena to testify at the impeachment trial. Asked Friday about that stance, he said, “The grounds for them to call me would be overwhelmingly specious. But, so, I don’t anticipate that happening anyway.”
Mr. Biden raised the scenario of voluntarily appearing at the Senate trial and explained why he did not view that as a good idea.
“What are you going to cover?” he asked, referring to the news media. “You’re going to cover, for three weeks, anything I said. And he’s going to get away.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
A new Popular Mechanics SPECIAL EDITION on Grandpe Joe and his worth MILLIONS son Hunter has just been released....
In a meeting with the editorial board of The Des Moines Register, whose endorsement in the Iowa caucuses is coveted by presidential hopefuls, Mr. Biden argued that complying with a subpoena and testifying would essentially allow Mr. Trump to succeed in shifting attention onto Mr. Biden and away from the president’s own actions.
“The reason I wouldn’t is because it’s all designed to deal with Trump doing what he’s done his whole life: trying to take the focus off him,” Mr. Biden said. “The issue is not what I did.”
“This is all about a diversion,” Mr. Biden added. “And we play his game all the time. He’s done it his whole career.”
Mr. Biden met with The Register at the beginning of a two-day visit to Iowa. He boarded his “No Malarkey” campaign bus later Friday and headed to Williamsburg for an event there, to be followed by additional stops on Saturday.
Mr. Biden had previously said that he would not comply with a subpoena to testify at the impeachment trial. Asked Friday about that stance, he said, “The grounds for them to call me would be overwhelmingly specious. But, so, I don’t anticipate that happening anyway.”
Mr. Biden raised the scenario of voluntarily appearing at the Senate trial and explained why he did not view that as a good idea.
“What are you going to cover?” he asked, referring to the news media. “You’re going to cover, for three weeks, anything I said. And he’s going to get away.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
A new Popular Mechanics SPECIAL EDITION on Grandpe Joe and his worth MILLIONS son Hunter has just been released....