“Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has blasted his Republican counterpart Mitch McConnell in recent days after he described himself as ‘not an impartial juror’ ahead of President Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, but Schumer himself repeatedly expressed similar sentiments in the late 1990s when senators weighed the removal of President Bill Clinton,” CNN reports.

“Schumer’s past comments are the latest example of how lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are having to confront their prior positions on impeachment that appear to conflict with their present-day statements.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) claimed that several of his Republican colleagues in the Senate have “severe misgivings” about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) impeachment strategy to coordinate with the White House, The Hill reports.

Said Blumenthal: “I’ve talked to anywhere from five to 10 of my colleagues who have very severe misgivings about the direction that Mitch McConnell is going in denying a full, fair proceeding with witnesses and documents. My hope is that they will say publicly what Senator Murkowski did, and really hold Mitch McConnell accountable.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said she was “disturbed” that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) would engage in “total coordination” with the White House regarding the upcoming Senate trial of President Trump, NBC News reports.

She added that McConnell’s comments “has further confused” the impeachment process.

“Congress headed toward a long standoff over the parameters of the Senate trial of President Trump as all sides dug in Monday, with Democrats demanding documents and witnesses while Republicans mocked the House’s delay in transmitting the impeachment articles across the Capitol,” the Washington Post reports.

“With Congress not slated to return to Washington until Jan. 6, senior officials prepared for a period of several weeks without any resolution.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told Fox and Friends that few senators are “impartial” in an impeachment trial.

Said McConnell: “Do you think Chuck Schumer is impartial? Do you think Elizabeth Warren is impartial? Bernie Sanders is impartial? So let’s quit the charade. This is a political exercise. … All I’m asking of Schumer is that we treat Trump the same way we treated Clinton.”

He continued: “We had a procedure that was approved 100 to nothing — Schumer voted for it, to go through the opening arguments, to have a written question period, and then, based upon that, deciding what witnesses to call. We haven’t ruled out witnesses. We’ve said let’s handle this case just like we did with President Clinton. Fair is fair.”

He added that he spoke to Democratic leader Chuck Schumer before they left town: “Look, we’re at an impasse. We can’t do anything until the speaker sends the papers over, so everybody enjoy the holidays.”

Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) told NBC News that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has destroyed Senate norms.

Said McCaskill: “McConnell has presided over absolutely destroying Senate norms, from Merrick Garland to killing legislative debate. The Senate is no longer what it was, and the people of this country are gonna have to be the ones politically to put pressure on this dysfunction and say we want unity, we want stuff to get done, we want you to quit the partisan food fight.”

“Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL), who won a stunning special election victory in 2017 and faces a difficult reelection campaign next year, said Sunday that he remains undecided on whether President Trump should be removed from office,” the Washington Post reports.

“Jones — a former prosecutor and moderate Democrat representing a deeply conservative state that overwhelming backed Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 — said he is keeping his mind open ahead of the pending Senate trial, following the House’s vote to impeach the president last week.”

New York Times: “Shattering convention, he held open a Supreme Court seat for 11 months. He twice changed Senate rules to create a record-setting assembly line of conservative federal judicial confirmations. He has been ruthless in his control of the Senate floor, denying Republicans and Democrats alike much opportunity to debate legislation.”

“Now, as a showdown intensifies over President Trump’s impeachment trial, the test for Mr. McConnell is whether he can again bulldoze over Democrats while keeping his Republican colleagues together, persuading them to share both his low regard for the impeachment charges and his view of the Senate’s role.”

Jeff Flake: “To my former Senate Republican colleagues, I don’t envy you.”

“It might not be fair, but none of the successes, achievements and triumphs you’ve had in public office — whatever bills you’ve passed, hearings you’ve chaired, constituents you have had the privilege of helping — will matter more than your actions in the coming months.”

“President Trump is on trial. But in a very real sense, so are you. And so is the political party to which we belong.”

Wall Street Journal: “Chief Justice Roberts, seated during the trial at the Senate chamber’s rostrum, might appear to be the authority before whom the president’s accusers and defenders plead their cases. Yet he will hold less power over the proceedings than a municipal court judge hearing a pickpocketing case. The trial’s rules will be written by the jury — the Senate — whose Republican leadership has already pronounced the defendant not guilty.”

“The Trump trial procedures will be adapted from the Senate’s 1986 impeachment guidelines, which allow the chief justice to decide ‘questions of relevancy, materiality, and redundancy of evidence,’ among other matters. But the Senate can overrule those decisions by simple majority, akin to letting seven of 12 jurors reverse a trial judge on any given motion in an ordinary case.”

Politico: “Trump has not exactly hid his feelings about the House impeachment proceedings, often tweeting that it’s ‘phony’ and a ‘hoax.’ The president even posted tweets attacking several witnesses who testified during the House’s impeachment inquiry.”

“And if he continues the barrage during his impeachment trial in the Senate, it could derail the Senate GOP’s strategy, annoy undecided senators and end up hurting his efforts to win unanimous acquittal from the Republican Party.”

Said Sen. Lindsey Graham: “He needs to be respectful of the process. He can defend himself, he has a right to express his grievances but if I were him I would … keep a low profile.”

Philip Bump: “Consider, for example, that it requires 67 votes in the Senate to oust Trump from office. That means that only 34 votes are needed to preserve his position. Even if he were deeply unpopular, if Trump maintained support from senators in 17 states, he could keep his job. Meaning, in the most extreme scenario, that he could be impeached but not removed from office if senators from the 17 least-populous states — representing only about 7 percent of the population — decided to stand by him.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell argued on the Senate floor Thursday morning that the impeachment inquiry into President Trump is “the most rushed, least thorough, and most unfair” in modern history, CNN reports.

McConnell said what the House passed yesterday are “fundamentally unlike any articles that any prior House of Representatives has ever passed.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) suggested that House Democrats would be committing “constitutional extortion” if they did not allow the Senate to promptly act on approved articles of impeachment against President Trump, The Hill reports.