Former Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., refused to join the Obama administration in a bipartisan statement telling Russia to stop its efforts to interfere during the 2016 presidential election.

“Mitch McConnell wanted no part of having a bipartisan commitment that we would say essentially, ‘Russia is doing this. Stop,’” Biden said during an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations. “Bipartisan, so it couldn’t be used as a weapon against the Democratic nominee of a president trying to use the intelligence community.”

Top intelligence officials such as former CIA Director John Brennan also presented the evidence indicating Russia was meddling in the election to congressional leaders, Biden said, and the Obama administration urged Republicans to put out a “bipartisan warning” to Russia.

“Well, they’d have no part of it,” Biden said, which signaled to him the “die had been cast here. This was all about the political play.”

Joe Biden: "Mitch McConnell wanted no part of having a bipartisan commitment" on response to Russian electoral interference in fall 2016. "The die had been cast, here. This was all about the political play." pic.twitter.com/0OtOk60hgF— ABC News (@ABC) January 23, 2018



The former vice president said he and former President Barack Obama often struggled with whether to speak publicly about Russia’s interference in the election and how much to say.

“The president and I would sit there literally after the [president's daily brief] and everybody would walk out of the room, and say, 'What the hell are we going to go?’” Biden said. “Now, Mr. President, if you go out there and unilaterally say this is what’s happening, you’re going to be accused of, in this environment, of trying to tip the election. Unless you can give harder data than we have now, you’re going to be in a terrible position, and it’s going to play into the delegitimizing of our electoral process.”

Joe Biden on warnings of Russian electoral interference in fall 2016: The president and I would sit there saying, "'What they hell are we going to do?'...You got out and you unilaterally say this is what's happening, you're going to be accused...of trying to tip the election." pic.twitter.com/dkyisjm1vY— ABC News (@ABC) January 23, 2018



The former vice president said the Obama administration wanted to speak out about Russian meddling in a bipartisan manner, and questioned how it would’ve been perceived if Obama held a press conference with Republicans, including Steve Bannon, who served as chief executive of the Trump campaign and later, White House chief strategist.

“Can you imagine if the president called a press conference in October, with this fella, Bannon, and company, and said, ‘Tell you what: Russians are trying to interfere in our elections and we have to do something about it,’” he said. “What do you think would have happened? Would things have gotten better, or would it further look like we were trying to delegitimize the electoral process, because of our opponent?”