WATCH: Politico Live Interview Gets Extremely Awkward As Ryan Lizza and Rep. Lee Zeldin Battle Over If Biden Won

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) battled with Politico’s chief Washington correspondent Ryan Lizza in a Politico Live interview on Thursday, as Lizza pushed Zeldin to answer if President Joe Biden won the 2020 election, and Zeldin insisted he had already answered the question.

In the interview segment, Lizza, joined by Politico Playbook co-author Tara Palmeri, asked Zeldin about his reported plans for running for New York governor in 2022, and then the discussion turned to the 2020 election. Zeldin was among the Republicans who voted against certifying the results of the election on January 6.

Recently, several Congressional Republicans have balked at directly answering if Biden indeed won the election, such as this interview earlier this week with CNN’s Pamela Brown and Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX).

Was the Lizza vs. Zeldin showdown as egregious as the one with Brown and Burgess? Watch the video and judge for yourself.

“Can you unequivocally state that Joe Biden won the presidential election — and just to remind viewers, you voted against certifying the results in Arizona and Pennsylvania,” Lizza asked, commenting that several of their viewers had submitted that question. “Can you unequivocally state that?”

“Yeah, Joe Biden is the President of the United States, and that’s how you become the President of the United States,” Zeldin replied.

Lizza laughed and crosstalked over the last part of Zeldin’s answer, and tried again, “Is or won? I ask it very intentionally that he won the presidential election.”

“Yes,” Zeldin replied emphatically, “and then I went on to continue and answer — if you would like to give my answer for me you can go ahead and do that, but I thought I was going to be here to answer my own questions.”

“No, no, I’m not giving your answer,” said Lizza. “I’m just saying, you said he is the president and I was asking ‘did he win?'”

“OK, you’re asking me now for a third time and I’ve said yes twice,” answered a perturbed Zeldin, “so I don’t know how many more times you want me to say yes and what your agenda is, but really it’s a bit ridiculous to be asking me a third time. But, please go ahead and ask me again.”

“I think he’s just clarifying the answer, to make sure that he has it right,” said Palmeri.

“A fourth time, I mean, I don’t know, you can go for a fifth time next too,” replied Zeldin.

“I wouldn’t call that a question,” Palmeri shot back. “Is every time I speak a question? We can keep going.”

“Sure, let’s do it a sixth time,” said Zeldin.

The full interview can be viewed below, via Politico Playbook (the relevant section starts just before the 12 minute mark):

Watch the videos above, via Politico.

(Hat tip: Bloomberg’s Ryan Beckwith.)