The former vice president Joe Biden has made his comments that he will not comply with any subpoena to testify at Donald Trump’s impeachment trial in the U.S Senate. He was doubling down on Saturday in spite of criticism from some legal experts. Biden argued during a meeting with the editorial board of The Des Moines Register, he said complying with a subpoena and testifying would essentially allow the president to succeed in shifting attention onto Biden and away from the president’s actions. He also clarified his comments after some legal experts criticized his position. They pointed out that the rejection from the White House to comply with congressional subpoenas was part of the reason why Trump had been impeached.
Joe Biden said, “The reason I wouldn’t do this because it’s all designed to deal with Trump doing what he’s done his whole life: Trying to take the focus off him. The issue is not what I did. This is all about diversion. And we play his game all the time. He’s done it his whole career”. He also said, “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. But I am just not going to pretend that there is any legal basis for Republican subpoenas for my testimony in the impeachment trial”.
Biden had formerly said he would not comply with a subpoena to testify at the impeachment trial. He was also asked about this stance, he said, “The grounds for them to call me would be overwhelmingly specious. But, so, I don’t anticipate that happening anyway. Volunteering to appear would not be a good idea either”. He asked, referring to the media, “What are you going to cover? You’re going to cover, for three weeks, anything I said. And he’s going to get away”. It is noteworthy that the U.S House impeached Trump last week for abusing his power and obstructing the U.S Congress in connection with a campaign to pressure Ukraine.