On Monday’s broadcast of ABC’s “The View,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said calling former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter to testify during the impeachment of President Donald Trump “would convert the Senate trial into the same kind of a sham proceeding.”
Co-host Abby Huntsman said, “Do you worry that if you open the door to witnesses like John Bolton that Republicans —we’re talking about a fair trial — Republicans are going to call the Bidens, even you to testify. Trump re-upped his calls for you and Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the weekend. He was tweeting all about that. Joe Biden has said that he would not testify, then he said he would testify. Would you, if asked, be willing to testify if you were subpoenaed?”
Schiff said, “Look, I’m not a fact witness, so other than nullifying the president, I’m not sure why the Senate would call me or Nancy Pelosi as a witness.”
Huntsman pressed, “If it is a fair trial though, you could very well see a case where the Bidens would have to be there. Do you think that’s a good thing politically or for impeachment as a whole?”
Schiff said, “I think what the senators would have to evaluate is, do the Bidens have any relevant testimony? I think the answer is that they don’t. What is at issue here is whether the president withheld military aid, withheld official acts like a White House meeting in order to coerce a country to announce investigations, not even conduct them but just announce them to help smear his opponent. There’s not much light that Joe Biden or Hunter Biden could shed on the president’s conduct.”
Huntsman said, “Then why not have them show up and just say, if you have nothing to hide, then come out there and tell the American people that because they want to hear both sides of it.”
Schiff said, “It would convert the Senate trial into the same kind of a sham proceeding that the president sought to have Ukraine undertake. There’s been no factual basis for these allegations against Joe Biden. No factual basis that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 election. That is a Russian propaganda talking point. To ask the Senate to do these investigations that the president fraudulently sought to get Ukraine to conduct would merely turn the Senate trial on its head. Now, that’s something that the president would love, but that’s not a fair trial. That’s a sham trial. I think what the senators ought to do is take their oath to be impartial seriously and make this a serious and fair trial, fair to the president, yes, but also fair to the American people.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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