WASHINGTON – Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the lawmaker chosen to preside over President Trump’s impeachment trial, has been hospitalized, his spokesman said.
The 80-year-old Senate pro tempore president was taken to a local hospital and is under observation after complaining that he did not feel well after overseeing the swearing-in of senators as jurors at the trial on Tuesday.
“Tonight, Senator Leahy was in his office on Capitol Hill and was not feeling well,” Leahy’s spokesman David Carle said in a statement.
“He was examined on Capitol by the attending physician. As a precaution, the attending physician recommended that he be taken to a local hospital for observation, where he is now and where he is being assessed, ”he said.
Leahy sometimes seemed stuffy and out of breath during the procedures.
Brave in the upper house, Leahy served as a senator for 46 years and was sworn in as president pro tempore of the Senate for the third time last week.
The constitutional role makes Leahy responsible for presiding over the new Democratic-controlled Senate, including the forthcoming impeachment trial.
In a statement, the Vermont lawmaker explained that he would oversee the trial instead of Supreme Court judge John Roberts because Trump is no longer president.
It is unclear how long Leahy will be hospitalized, what his condition is and whether his health problem will delay the trial, which is due to begin on February 8.
After Tuesday’s oath, more than 45 Republican Party lawmakers voted to declare Trump’s impeachment trial unconstitutional, almost guaranteeing that the impeachment article accusing the former president of inciting the US Capitol siege on 6 January will be dead on arrival.