Former Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday reiterated his intent to steer clear of the Senate impeachment trial against President Donald Trump.
"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," the Democratic presidential candidate said on Twitter.
"But I am just not going to pretend that there is any legal basis for Republican subpoenas for my testimony in the impeachment trial," he continued. "That is the point I was making yesterday and I reiterate: this impeachment is about Trump’s conduct, not mine.
“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.”
Biden, who has not been subpoenaed, along with his son, Hunter, was the focus of an investigation request Trump made to Ukraine’s president in July. He said Friday he would not comply with a subpoena, stating that if he did so it would create a media narrative that would let the president off the hook.
Biden said Friday he would not comply with a subpoena if he received one to testify in Trump's impeachment trial.
"What are you going to cover?" he asked Des Moines Register Executive Editor Carol Hunter. "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."