Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen has now publicly defended Nancy Pelosi’s stupid decision to hold off on handing over the articles of impeachment over to the Senate claiming that Pelosi is “doing exactly the right thing.”

“What Speaker Pelosi is doing is focusing attention on the need for a fair trial, and a fair trial means you get to call your witnesses,” Van Hollen said Sunday on “Face the Nation.” “Every American knows that, that’s what a trial is all about. How can it be a fair trial if you can’t put on the rest of your case?”

They have already developed their case. That’s exactly what the purpose of the impeachment hearings in the House is! If they don’t have a good case by now then too bad. They shouldn’t have rushed it.

You know all of this is just a ploy to make it look like this is all the Republicans’ fault in the Senate because they won’t be “reasonable” and bow a knee to Pelosi.

Here’s the important part of the transcript of the interview:

MARGARET BRENNAN: So you just heard Senator Blunt lay out his position. You are one of the first senators to publicly float at least this idea that the speaker hold on to those articles and not immediately transfer them. Can you explain the strategy? What do you- what is this leverage?

SEN. VAN HOLLEN: Sure. Absolutely. And first, just to be clear, the conduct we’re talking about from President Trump has no parallel in the conduct of anything that President Obama or President Bush did. And his claim of absolute immunity is unprecedented. No presidents ever claimed that. So Speaker Pelosi is doing exactly the right thing. She is focusing a spotlight on the need to have a fair trial in the United States Senate. And it’s especially necessary when you have Mitch McConnell, Senator McConnell, who you quoted earlier, saying publicly that he’s not going to be an impartial juror, even though that’s what the oath will require, that he’s going to work in lockstep with the president, who’s the defendant in this case, and that he’s already said no to calling fact witnesses that have direct knowledge of what’s at stake in this impeachment.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So, you’re trying to divide the Republican caucus over these two weeks?

SEN. VAN HOLLEN: We’re trying to engage, first of all, the public in a conversation, because almost every American would agree that to have a fair trial you need to have witnesses. I mean, what’s a trial without each side being able to call their witnesses? And, yes, they’re going to be a number of Republican senators who are going to have to decide on whether or not to call these witnesses. And after all, as you indicated, President Trump says he wants witnesses. Now, I don’t know if he’s trash-talking or not, but let’s have some witnesses. If it was such a perfect phone call, then send on Mick Mulvaney down to talk about that perfect phone call. Send down John Bolton. What are they afraid of?

Well, first of all…talk about hypocrisy. “what’s a trial without each side being able to call their witnesses?” You mean like the House Dems just finished doing to the Republicans? They weren’t able to call any of the witnesses that they wanted. The whole thing was a sham and completely one-sided.

.@ChrisVanHollen says Speaker Pelosi is doing “exactly the right thing” by holding articles of #impeachment to influence how an impeachment trial will be handled in the Senate. pic.twitter.com/epQUWvUwOc

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) December 22, 2019

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