Former President Bill Clinton on Thursday advised President Donald Trump to leave the handling of the impeachment inquiry to his staff and instead focus on doing his job.

Clinton — responding on CNN to the shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, which left two students dead and several injured — dismissed Attorney General William Barr’s claim that discussions on the legislative aspects of gun control had been stalled by the impeachment inquiry into Trump as “just an excuse.”

“Look at how much we got done in 1998 and 1999 and even in ’97,” Clinton told CNN’s Jake Tapper. Clinton was impeached in 1998 over the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

“We had very productive actions in all three years,” Clinton continued. “The only really tough year we had, after the Republicans won the Congress, was ’95 to the beginning of ’96, when they shut the government down twice. But once the public rendered judgment on what they thought should be done, I just kept working with them. I mean, that’s just an excuse.”

Tapper asked the former president what he would tell Trump when he claims “I can’t work with these people, they’re impeaching me.”

“My message would be, ‘Look, you got hired to do a job,’” Clinton replied. “You don’t get the days back you blow off. Every day’s an opportunity to make something good happen. And I would say, ‘I’ve got lawyers and staff people handling this impeachment inquiry, and they should just have at it. Meanwhile, I’m going to work for the American people.’”

“He did indicate a couple times he would go along with this, and then obviously the gun lobby got ahold of him and pulled him back,” said Clinton, who in 1994 signed off on the assault weapons ban, which has since expired.

“But at some point, you know, denial is no longer an option. And the Congress is basically in denial of the consequences of doing nothing or at least the people who are opposed to this,” he added.

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Check out the full interview here:

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