Biden Dismisses Idea of ‘Trade’ on Senate Witnesses: We Won’t Turn Process Into a ‘Farce’

Joe Biden today dismissed the idea of a deal involving a witness “trade” in the Senate impeachment trial — namely, one where his son Hunter Biden, possibly along with the former veep too, would testify in exchange for Democrats getting to call John Bolton and Mick Mulvaney to question them on Ukraine.

Biden had said last month he wouldn’t comply with a subpoena in the Senate trial, saying any such effort would be doing on “specious” grounds, before following that up by saying he has always “cooperated with legitimate congressional oversight requests.”

But at the time he still said, “I am just not going to pretend that there is any legal basis for Republican subpoenas for my testimony in the impeachment trial. That is the point I was making yesterday and I reiterate: this impeachment is about Trump’s conduct, not mine.”

Yesterday there was reporting that Democrats are considering a Biden-for-Bolton trade. Today both Adam Schiff and Chuck Schumer publicly dismissed the idea.

Asked if he or his son would consider testifying in Senate impeachment trial as part of any possible witness swap, Joe Biden says, "This is a constitutional issue. And we're not going to turn it into a farce, into some kind of political theater." https://t.co/UHjSh58OUn pic.twitter.com/vGXePBUQce

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 22, 2020

Biden similarly dismissed it when asked today about “calling their bluff,” saying they don’t have “much gas in the tank to begin with” on this.

He said the Trump team is playing a “game” and noted the praise he got during the impeachment inquiry before saying, “I did fight corruption in that country.”

Biden again defended his son and said Trump always “blames somebody else, tries to divert the attention” when the focus is on him.

“We’re not going to turn it into a farce, into some kind of political theater,” he added. “THey’re trying to turn it into political theater, but I want no part of that.”