Democratic presidential candidate John Hickenlooper handed an interview over to a member of his staff after being asked about abortion during an interview he thought was only going to be about gun violence.
"Listen, I thought you wanted to talk about gun safety," Hickenlooper complained to Denver radio host Dan Caplis, before telling him he'd only be giving him two more minutes to speak with him.
Caplis told Hickenlooper he'd been told by his staff that all topics were open for discussion, and accused Hickenlooper of attempting to escape after being asked a tough question.
"Two minutes, are you kidding me?" Caplis said. "I'm sorry sir, that's a joke. I ask you a tough question on abortion, which you refuse to answer directly, now you tell me you have two minutes."
The conversation quickly devolved into an argument over the agreed upon terms of the interview.
"I apologize that you guys can't be direct about what you want to discuss," Hickenlooper said.
"Governor, we specifically discussed it with your staff," Caplis said. "Your staff told us no limits, everything is fair game."
"If you're giving me two minutes and you're limiting the topics, then this isn't a real interview," he said, before attempting again to ask whether Hickenlooper believes an infant who survives an abortion should be given medical care.
Hickenlooper declined to answer "hypothetical questions," and accused Caplis of "trying to inflame people's emotions."
A staffer then took the phone from Hickenlooper and reiterated the belief that the argument was supposed to be solely focused on gun safety. Caplis said he spoke to a member of Hickenlooper's staff, and was assured no issues were off-limits.
"Well, let me touch base with [the staffer] and we'll see if we can find some additional time," the staffer said in an on-air interview.
Hickenlooper is currently polling at 0 percent in the Democratic primary, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls.