CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) Discusses About The Timing Of The Release Of The Rules Of President Trump's Impeachment

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BURNETT: All right. And Phil, stay with me, because we're going to have a lot of questions here as this develops over the hour. We may hear, of course, from Minority Leader Schumer in a few moments.

I want to go now to Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. Senator, to give you a chance to respond here, I know Phil is laying out this resolution, some of the key differences between this and the situation with President Clinton.

Bottom line, Senator, why do you think Mitch McConnell waited until tonight which is, of course, is the night before the trial formally begins and all of you start to debate to release the rules and the timing?

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): Well, Erin, it's because he want to spring this on everybody. I mean, you would never see this in a normal trial proceeding. You've got in this case, Mitch McConnell is trying to spring this on people at the last minute.

[19:05:02]

So we're all scrambling to read the resolution as we talk to you. And he's been saying that he's going to follow the Clinton model, but as you just indicated he's actually departed from it in very significant ways. One is he wants to rush this thing through in the middle of the night, which suggests to me that he knows they've got a weak argument.

And the second thing, which we're trying to figure out is the existing evidence, put aside the question of future witnesses. But they have a provision in here that says that the existing evidence has been gathered by the House of Representatives doesn't enter into the trial record until a much later phase and then only by motion, which is very different from the Clinton trial. It's not clear what the implications are. We're trying to figure out the example ...

BURNETT: Yes. Can I ask you about that, because I'm trying to understand that?

VAN HOLLEN: Yes.

BURNETT: The understanding is you would have it, you'd be able to look at it, but it's not formally admissible. But if you're able to look at it, it could still influence your vote. So do you have a sense as to what the significance of it is at this point at all or ...

VAN HOLLEN: All we know right now is it's a departure from the Clinton model. And you would think that the evidence that has been collected by the House would be put in the record at the beginning of a trial.

BURNETT: Yes.

VAN HOLLEN: That would be the normal practice.

BURNETT: Yes.

VAN HOLLEN: Just like normally you would hear from witnesses and get your documents during the trial instead of after the trial and that's totally backwards, of course, here too. And Senator Schumer tomorrow will try to amend these rules so that we can hear from witnesses and get those relevant documents earlier in the trial.

But this other provision is like a sneak provision that's a departure from the Clinton resolution and it's not yet clear what all of the implications of that are, other than the fact that they're not going to enter into the record, all of the evidence has already been collected, so people who already testified under penalty of perjury.

One of the questions that we have is whether or not the House managers will be allowed to play the video, of the House witnesses.

BURNETT: Right.

VAN HOLLEN: People like Ambassador Taylor, Dr. Fiona Hill, are they going to be able to play videos of that? And none of that is clear in this resolution.

BURNETT: Yes. It's not laid out here. So what do you think the motivation is for Mitch McConnell for 12 hour days which begin at 1 pm? Obviously, just to lay out the math, starkly, that means you're finishing at one in the morning. So if you're televising this sometime between 10 and 11 o'clock, a lot of Americans are going to not be watching, they're going to go to bed.

VAN HOLLEN: Yes. I think he wants to do two things. I think, number one, he wants people to tune out because he knows that there's going to be a lot of very damaging information. And second, he's going to really make it hard on the House managers. I mean, if you look at any normal trial, the judge doesn't keep people going 12 hours straight.

BURNETT: Yes, exhausting.

VAN HOLLEN: So he's clearly trying to - yes, trying to exhaust the House managers and get people to tune out. And it's really underhanded here, especially when he kept beating his chest and saying, oh, well, we're going to follow the Clinton model. Well, he's taken that and torn it up in many ways.

So what he was telling the country for the last couple of weeks, he's totally disregarded at least in this document right here. Obviously, a fundamental vote, the big vote at least the way he set it up here, will be on that question after senators asked their questions after that period of time as to whether or not we will hear from witnesses and be able to get documents ...

BURNETT: And look, you're getting a vote on that.

VAN HOLLEN: ... and that will be the moment of truth.

BURNETT: In a sense, you know he doesn't want that vote at all, right? And had he been able to with his own side, with Republicans he would have not included that. So the fact that there is going to be a vote on witnesses and documents, do you consider that in and of itself a win? You're getting the vote.

VAN HOLLEN: Well, that's going to be the moment of truth for Republican senators. That will be the moment when they telegraph to the country whether or not they want a real trial, a fair trial or whether they're going to conspire with the President to prevent the senate from hearing additional evidence that we know directly bears on the two articles of impeachment. And that will be the big moment the way Senator McConnell will set this up.

BURNETT: All right. Well, Senator Van Hollen, I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you very much, sir.

VAN HOLLEN: Thank you.

BURNETT: Obviously, Senator Van Hollen will be there tomorrow as the trial begins.

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