Sen. Richard Durbin says impeachment trial should be a fair, "real trial"

Two days after the U.S. Senate opened the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, Sen. Richard Durbin, (D-Ill.), said both sides of the aisle took an oath they would take it seriously.

"It should be a real trial, with witnesses, evidence and testimony," said Durbin on Saturday, following a speech given at the Illinois Valley Federation of Labor and the Illinois Valley Building Trades Biennial Labor Summit in Ottawa that focused primarily on electing a different president than Trump.

Trump faces two charges after the House of Representatives voted to impeach him last month. One, that he abused his presidential power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden, using military aid to the country as leverage. Trump is also charged with obstructing Congress’ ensuing probe.

The president has called the process partisan and has said he did nothing wrong.

The Senate will issue a formal summons to the White House to appear, with the president's legal team expected to respond by Saturday. Opening arguments will begin on Tuesday.

With his comments, Durbin is referring to a suggestion by the president he would be open to a quick vote to simply dismiss the charges.

Durbin said speeding up the trial would be a mistake.

It would take a super-majority of senators, 67 of the 100, to convict the president. Republicans control the chamber, 53-47, but it takes just 51 votes during the trial to approve rules, call witnesses or dismiss the charges.

A group of four Republican senators is working to ensure there will be votes on the possibility of witnesses, though it's not at all certain a majority will prevail for new testimony, according to the Associated Press.

Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee are among those involved.

“I tend to believe having additional information would be helpful,” Collins said in a statement, according to the Associated Press. “It is likely that I would support a motion to call witnesses.”

Romney said he wants to hear from John Bolton, the former national security adviser at the White House, who others have said raised alarms about the alternative foreign policy toward Ukraine being run by Giuliani.

"It will be up to those four seniors on the other side of the aisle," Durbin said on Saturday.

Republican House Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took a different view of the charges and proceedings.

He opened the chamber decrying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to hand out "souvenir pens” on Wednesday after she signed the resolution to transmit the charges to the Senate.

“This final display neatly distilled the House's entire partisan process into one perfect visual,” McConnell said. “It was a transparently partisan process from beginning to end.”

The president's team expects a trial lasting no more than two weeks, according to senior administration officials. That would be far shorter than the trial of President Bill Clinton, in 1999, or the first one, of President Andrew Johnson, in 1868. Both were acquitted.

Along with his thought on the impeachment proceedings, Durbin said to media after Saturday's speech the cost of prescription drugs is the No. 1 issue facing Americans and that he was encouraged by the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, noting both labor union and farm bureau leadership supported the deal.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report