Sen. Chris Van Hollen says McConnell is trying to "rush through" Senate impeachment trial
Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democratic member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, speaks to Bill Hemmer in the first segment of "Bill Hemmer Reports."
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., told Fox News' "Bill Hemmer Reports" Monday that Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., intends to "rush through" the upcoming impeachment trial of President Trump after Fox News reported that the process is likely to consist of multiple 12-hour days in the Senate.
"We have an obligation to hear the case and try the case and try it fairly," Van Hollen told host Bill Hemmer. "In the Clinton proceedings...they divided up into six-hour days so obviously, McConnell is trying to rush this through including in the middle of the night. I find that worrisome, but we will all do our duty under the Constitution to hear this."
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The impeachment trial is scheduled to begin in earnest Tuesday afternoon, with the Senate scheduled to be in session every day except Sunday.
McConnell is likely to force a vote on trial rules modeled after the Clinton impeachment trial. Those rules would allow 24 hours for the House impeachment managers to make their case and 24 hours for Trump's defense team to respond, followed by 16 hours of written questions submitted by senators, asked through U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, who will preside over the Senate in place of Vice President Mike Pence. Each day of the trial could last as long as 12 hours, Fox News has heard.
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Hemmer suggested that the longer days may work to the benefit of Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn, who were forced to take a break from campaigning in Iowa ahead of the next month's caucuses to serve in the impeachment trial.
"With respect, I don't think that's Mitch McConnell's motivation right now," Van Hollen responded. "But I think again, the important thing is that we get all the relevant witnesses and documents and testimony, and whatever the timeline is, we have to do our job."
The Maryland senator also noted that he believes the pause in campaigning will have "no material impact" on the outcome of the Feb. 3 caucuses.
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"I don't think this has any material impact. These are senators who are able to communicate with people via all sorts of, Facebook live. They've got their teams on the ground and the voters in those states are interested in what's happening in the impeachment trial, along with all of the other big issues they are facing," he explained.
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"The most important thing for those caucuses is the organization and the team on the ground," Van Hollen added. "Those organizations have already been built over a period of time, and so that will be the most important factor as we go into the final days.
"I've talked to the senators and I know that their first obligation is to do their job under the Constitution."
Fox News' Tyler Olsen contributed to this report.
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