CNN host Chris Cuomo pressed Democratic Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett on former Vice President Joe Biden’s stated refusal to comply with any potential Senate subpoena to testify in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
During a Friday night “Cuomo Prime Time” interview, Cuomo played footage of Biden’s doubling-down to the Des Moines Register on Friday about refusing to comply with a Senate subpoena.
“The idea of what Joe Biden is arguing here is exactly what you just impeached the president for, his feelings about the subpoena process and congressional oversight made him feel like not complying because he didn’t like what you were asking,” Cuomo told Doggett. “How is it any different than what Joe Biden is saying?”
“Well, it’s significantly different,” Doggett responded. “First, I think that Joe Biden or anyone else would be subject to subpoena power and could be compelled to come to this proceeding, but there’s nothing that Joe Biden or any of the other witnesses Republicans have talked about have to say about what the president is being impeached for. The only purpose of bringing them is for distraction urged by the master of distraction, Donald Trump.”
Cuomo continued to press by bringing up Republican arguments that Trump did not have “corrupt intent” because he believed a crime had possibly been committed, and would so need to “put on testimony to prove there’s something there.” (RELATED: Dan Crenshaw Stands His Ground With Chris Cuomo On Question Of Trump Wrongdoing: ‘The Facts Don’t Back That Up’)
In response, Doggett insisted that Trump’s “corrupt intent was shown by his conduct,” contending that aid to Ukraine was terminated “within an hour and a half of the phone conversation” between Ukraine’s president and Trump.
“So we have plenty of evidence of this pattern of conduct and of his intent and his desire to do me a favor, though,” he said. “There’s no justification for calling Joe Biden …”