Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she would be in Washington, D.C., and off the presidential campaign trail in the event that the Senate stays in session for an impeachment trial in the coming months.
“I have a constitutional duty to take part in that trial. That’s what you do when you’re a U.S. senator and such an important case comes to be for you,” Ms. Klobuchar, Minnesota Democrat, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“We will be there in Washington, if that is the schedule. We really don’t have a choice,” the senator said.
She also said she can “do two things at once,” saying there are “many ways to reach out to people.”
Ms. Klobuchar is one of six sitting U.S. senators still in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. The others are Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Cory A. Booker of New Jersey, Kamala D. Harris of California, Bernard Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
If the Democratic-led House does eventually vote to impeach President Trump, the Senate would hold a trial to determine whether to convict him.
It takes a two-thirds majority to convict, and the proceedings would be held six days per week, excluding Sundays. That schedule would present the senators who are also running for president with tough scheduling decisions in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses in early February.
House Democrats are probing whether Mr. Trump abused his power when he allegedly pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joseph R. Biden, a top political rival, in a July phone call. Mr. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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