missouri republican senator roy blunt is here, as is maryland democratic senator chris van hollen. good morning to both of you gentleman. senator blunt, first off to you, do you agree with the president's declaration that he hasn't actually been impeached? >> well, i've actually heard some constitutional scholars suggest that you're not impeached until the house sends the articles over. i don't know that that's a distinction worth arguing about. the house will send the articles over. we are going to hear this case. i argue that the president's counsel will get a chance the make their case for the first time. they get a chance in january. >> brennan: so there's no question that speaker pelosi will transfer the articles? >> i think this is a mistake for the speaker to continue to dwell on that issue. i don't think it's worked out that well for them politically. i don't think the speaker who has great power in a lot of cases has the power to decide not to send over the determined will of the house of representatives. they have voted. they have voted on two articles. they need to come

shortly before air time, i spoke with another senator, maryland democrat chris van hollen. senator van lochollen, i want t ask you about what we just heard from senator mcconnell. are you fully impartial heading into a senate trial? >> erica, yes, i am because i'm willing to listen to all the evidence before rendering a final verdict in this case. do i think that the house has made an overwhelming case for impeachment as of this point in time? yes, i do. but i also have heard the president say that he wants to have a big trial and he wants to have witnesses talking about how he's not guilty of the offenses he's been charged with. and i'm absolutely willing to listen. at the same time, that's why it's so important that we have witnesses that apparently the president or the president's team and mitch mcconnell don't want to call. everybody should be able to make their case in a true trial that's fair in the senate. >> well, in terms of having those witnesses, senate leader mcconnell also said this morning, quote, we haven't ruled out witnesses. we've said let's handle this ca

democratic senator chris van hollen of maryland joins me now. senator, that's the only republican senator who expressed concerns about that. if you want to call witnesses at this trial, you'll need at least four republicans to join the democrats. are you seeing any other signs of republicans breaking ranks? >> well, jon, that's the entire reason we're focusing on the importance of a fair trial and all americans, i think, understand that a fair trial means you get to call your witnesses and senator murkowski put her finger on the big issue. is senator mcconnell going to try to rig this trial right from the start working in lock step with the president and his lawyers or is he going to allow a fair trial which your own abc poll showed 70% of americans say that requires witnesses and documents? that's why we're having the conversation that we're having over these weeks. we keep hearing president trump say he's going to be exonerated. if you have a rigged trial, there's no exoneration in acquittal from a farce. >> are you talking to others like mitt

. >>> still ahead, we'll talk to senator chris van hollen who said the impeachment trial is shaping up to be a rigged sham. >>> plus a google employee has been fired after she says she tried to inform her colleagues of their right to organize. we'll hear from her coming up. you are watching msnbc. great rich l find you when liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. wow. thanks, zoltar. how can i ever repay you? maybe you could free zoltar? thanks, lady. taxi! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ the ones that make a truebeen difference in people's lives. and mike's won them, which is important right this minute, because if he could beat america's biggest gun lobby, helping pass background check laws and defeat nra backed politicians across this country, beat big coal, helping shut down hundreds of polluting plants and beat big tobacco, helping pass laws to save the next generation from addiction. all against big odds you can beat him. i'm mike bloomberg and i approve this message. i'm mike bloomberg and i approve thi

joining me now is senator chris van hollen. thank you for being with us.ch mcconnell told shaean hannity that he's incomplete coordination with the white house and republican positions in the house are the same as those in the white house. he's essentially, you may call it leaving the jury. talk to me about this. it is not unexpected, it seems that the idea that the senate votes to hold a trial seems like the outcome may be predeterminepredetermin predetermined. >> it is very alarming. it is only expected in this upside down world we find us in right now because what you got is mitch mcconnell, contracting out his legal responsibility of the president of the united states who's on trial saying he's going to do whatever the president's lawyer tells him to do. that's a gross, violation of the elections of the duties of the republican senate leader in this case. what the american people deserve is a trial where we have the full facts, we should get the documents that the president refused to present to the house of representatives, we should get relevant witn

democratic senator chris van hollen of maryland. senator, nancy pelosi is repeating her request basically saying, look, we're not going to send this over and appoint our house managers unless we know what kind of process it's going to be. lindsey graham is very upset about this. the president is very upset. what is your read on where things stand on this situation? >> well, chris, it's good to be with you. speaker pelosi is exactly right. she's trying to get some assurances that the trial in the senate will be fair and that, of course, includes the ability to call witnesses. you just named michael duffey where we have new documents that are very incriminating. there are other key witnesses in the white house and other documents. speaker pelosi is just saying to the united states senate, just let me know you're going to have a fair trial, that we're going to be able to call these witnesses and get these documents, and i'll send this over tomorrow. i mean, i'll do it right now. she's very eager for the trial to begin, but she like i h

together as well as prominent senate republicans and senate democrats just yesterday senator chris van hollen a democrat from maryland and senator lindsey graham one of the president's staunchest supporters was a republican from south carolina the very strong letter to secretary of state my peo asking for him to impose sanctions on turkey for turkey's purchase of the f. 400 defense system there's so many conflicting signals here because trump also justified his decision to pull u.s. forces out of northern syria because he said we had to get out of the way of the turkish military as if the turkish military dictates u.s. foreign policy at the same time trump is repeatedly cold turkey is great ally of nato do you think that's a view that he holds or do you think that's the advice that he has been given. it may very well be the advice that he is getting think that there are people here in washington who believe that the united states must hang on to this relationship which during the cold war was a very important relationship and that if the united states seeks to preserve the relationship good t

. >>> joining me now democratic senator chris van hollen of maryland. tho thank you for joining me.et me have you pick up where hans left off. you are asking the government accountability office essentially for an opinion on the legality of president trump's decision to hold up aid on ukraine. what are you hoping to achieve? have you heard back from them? >> i have not heard back yet. they are going to do this legal analysis. i hope to ref it as soon ceive possible. we know that the president abused his power by withholding this essential funding to ukraine in order to extract these personal political promises to interfere in the election. but it seems also clear that he violated the control act withholding those funds. that would be true even if you accepted the president's cover story, that they were somehow engaged in a policy review. so that's why we're asking gao to look into this and get back to us. >> we know that chuck schumer is pushing for the department of state omb, the white house to release those documents related to the decision to hold up the aid to ukraine. do you a

bring in democrat senator chris van hollen of michigan. senator, a pleasure to have you on. welcome, sir. >> great to be with you, brooke. >> senator, you were one of the first to float the idea of the house angi ihanging on the artif impeachment. why do you think this is the way to go? >> because we want a fair trial. speakser pelosi won'tant transfer the articles of impeachment until we have assurances there's will be a fair trial. we all know mitch mcconnell, senator mcconnell said he was not an impartial juror. he would work in lock step with the president who who is the defendant in this trial proceeding and mcconnell also rejected our very reasonable request for relevant fact witnesses. ip think the american people know that a real trial that's fair, you get to call your fact witnesses, and so pelosi's doing the right thing. >> first, process, one of the tricky things in the constitution. it's clear as far as what the house and senate need to do, but no clear set of rules on how those articles must make their way from the house to the senate. so senator van hollen, wha

yet democrat senator chris van hollen of maryland said a quote, rigged impeachment trial will blow upe president's face. can we take a breathe? democrats in congress are in permanent state of outrage. now they're talking about a senate trial that hasn't taken place. >> it has to be exhausts for them be upset all the time. you have to look look at the prs it was rigged from the beginning. it was in basement. president trump was not allowed a attorney, no exculpatory evidence was allowed to be presented. we were shut down by adam schiff trying to ask questions. the entire process has been rigged. why this is alarming democrats i don't know when it has been flawed from the start. liz: looking at democrats we've been reporting talking impeachment 2.0, based on the mueller probe getting don mcgahn to testify. that fight is in the courts. it is not over. great to see you. >> liz, happy new year. liz: happy new year to you. the year 2019 the year democrats and media went off the rails. we have the highlights and the lowlights next. >> we never had a, a economy anywhere close to this. our une

in fact, he means it, there is the deterrent, the act that marco rubio and cory gardner and chris van hollenponsored in the senate, both parties that would impose automatic severe sanctions on russian if they intervene again in 2020. mitch mcconnell has refused to add a vote and it doesn't look like it will happen and the view in the senate is it is being held because the administration doesn't want it to go forward. if he doesn't want to send a clear message to russia, he has a vehicle to do so at his finger tips. >> but we don't know whether or not the president said this because he excluded u.s. president from the room and once again met with lavrov a russian official -- >> at least there weren't russian photographers there. >> without having the transparency and credibility and letting the kremlin shape the narrative or put people in a position in what we are not sure what was told. and this is the second meeting for lavrov before zelensky, the president of ukraine, has even had his first meeting. so in some ways this is the president sort of thumbing his nose on the very day he's being

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. >> meanwhile, on another front, maryland democratic senator chris van hollen has written to the government accountability office asking for its opinion on the legality of trump's move to hold up congressionally approved aid to ukraine. van hollen believes trump may have violated the law by not telling congress. >> we've asked gao to take a look at this argument. i think to the extent that they agree, it will just be more evidence on top of the already mountains of evidence that this was far from a perfect call and a perfect action. >> tonight "the washington post" reports this. at least 37 republican senators are expected to vote against both articles of impeachment against president trump. the post adds that means it is mathematically impossible for trump to be removed from office assuming the 37 number holds. but that is, after all, all the bay into next year. and let's bring in our leadoff discussion on a monday night here in late 2019. jill colvin, white house reporter for the associated press. jon meacham, pulitzer prize-winning author and historian. also happens to be co-author of th

. >> meanwhile, on another front, maryland democratic senator chris van hollen has written to the government accountability office asking for its opinion on the legality of trump's move to hold up congressionally approved aid to ukraine. van hollen believes trump may have violated the law by not telling congress. >> we've asked gao to take a look at this argument. i think to the extent that they agree, it will just be more evidence on top of the already mountains of evidence that this was far from a perfect call and a perfect action. >> tonight "the washington post" reports this. at least 37 republican senators are expected to vote against both articles of impeachment against president trump. they go on to say it means that it is mathematically impossible for trump to be removed from office assuming this 37 number holds. but that is, after all, all the way into next year, and let's bring in our lead off discussion on a monday night here in late 2019, joe colvin white house reporter for the associated press, john meacham, pulitzer prize winner author and historian and co-author of the book "i

. >> senator chris van hollen makes it plain what's happening here. >> what speaker pelosi is sayinghe won't transfer the articles of impeachment until we get assurances that there will be a fair trial. >> now, he pushed back when brooke suggested or invoked holding the articles hostage. but isn't that what she's doing here? and what role does the constitution give the speaker in deciding what the trial will be? >> i don't think that the constitution says one way or the oth other. i think what she's doing is underscoring for the american people which i think is really important that after the house of representatives has done their job and has impeached this president, he has been impeached, i want to repeat that, he has been impeached, that now it should go over to the senate where the senators are supposed to take an oath to be impartial jurors and to look at the evidence objectively. >> understood. but does she need to hold the articles hostage to do that? >> what the leader of the senate has said is that he is not going to be an impartial juror. i think what she's doing is to try

. >> and you saw today lindsey graham and chris van hollen, obviously bipartisan group of people callon turkey for buying s-400 equipment from russia to be clear. so i mean, there is so much going on. there's probably more going on within nato and the interpol ticks of nato than ever before. so it's a peril ess time. >> we used to sort of, you know, they were low-impact trips. now, we have to watch them like a hawk because anything can happen with donald trump. >> we're waiting for that precisely because these impeachment hearings are going on. and he might want to do and i don't even know what it is to distract us from that. so it's always a worry that we know he wants to deep six nato anyway. and how is it that he's going to do it that he undermines the entire alliance? and and we just have to say it's not normal to want to deep six nato. >> no. this is the fundamental foundational alliance of, you know, the post-war world. and this is where donald trump is not normal. is his disdain for our allies and his fascination with our enemies. is just something that i think historians are g

. >>> i'm joined now by democratic senator chris van hollen who would be a juror in this coming trialve you. so, we've walked through a lot of the history. we heard from someone who voted in the last one. what do you see as important when you come back in january. mcconnell has to start some sort of trial, but beyond that, what are you demanding? >> i think the most important thing is to have a fair trial. and that's why speaker pelosi's exactly right to say she doesn't want to send over the articles of impeachment until she gets some assurance that we'll have a fair trial. and the need to do that has been heightened by the fact that mitch mcconnell, senator mcconnell, has already said he won't be an impartial juror. he's already said he's in total ka hoots with the president who of course is the defendant in this case. and mcconnell's already said that he's going to oppose efforts to get fact witnesses who have direct knowledge. so, obviously that's not a fair trial. every american know that is that does not constitute a fair trial. so, we're going to keep pushing to get those assura

for the democratic side of the aisle here is senator chris van hollen of maryland.he democrats saying speaker pelosi's absolute right to consider withholding articles of impeachment until the american public is guaranteed a fair trial in the senate. if republicans are going to call it a trial that it has to be open and fair, not a rigged from the start. one more from senater richard blumenthal from last night. the democrat from connecticut saying i hope we in the senate will approach our upcoming task, a full fair trial with witnesses and documents with the same kind of steadfast commitment to the facts and to our constitution. colorado, in cortez, republican, good morning to you. caller: good morning, thank you for allowing me to talk. i don't do well on the phone. president trump, they have been calling for his impeachment the day after he was elected. personally didn't care for the man, don't care for the man, he is egotistical, he might border on narcissism. but i did not want hillary clinton and so i voted for trump and i have not been sorry. the big picture he

nation" this sunday, margaret will talk to republican senator roy blunt and democratic senator chris van hollen. >>> congress is on recess for the holidays giving democrats and republicans two full weeks to consider the next steps in the impeachment showdown. "60 minutes" correspondent john dickerson is here. okay, congress. >> okay. >> nancy pelosi has said she's not going to send the articles of impeachment over to the senate. geent know when she will -- we don't know when she will. what's the game plan? >> at the moment she says not going to do it. we've heard republicans making process arguments in the house. democrats are trying to shape the process in the senate, and if they can't actually shape it and get rules favorable to their side, they want to at least put in a context and argue basically that republican leader mcconnell is not allowing a fair trial. so that it at least when the president's acquitted in the senate, as everyone expects, it at least has that context that the democrats get. but the downside for nancy pelosi is people say, wait a minute, you've gone through this process