Breaking: Van Hollen Challenges Schumer

This is a breaking news alert. Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen has announced that he will be running for the majority leader position in the United States Senate, and he will be challenging Chuck Schumer. Moments ago, Senator Van Hollen put out the following statement. Today, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen released the following statement regarding his decision to run for majority leader against Chuck Schumer. Quote, in this election, the American people called for change. They called for a change from Donald Trump's disastrous policies, but even bigger than that, a change from the status quo that isn't working for working people. It's now on us to meet this moment, and to do that, we need new leadership. This is not about any one person. It's about answering the call of the American people. This is why I'm running for Senate majority leader. Then Senator Chris Van Hollen went on the Jen Psaki show on MSNOW, and watch as he made the announcement. Play this clip. Yes, I am planning to run for the Senate majority leader, and let me tell you why. Because this is not about any one individual, but it is about answering the call of the American people. We saw a huge outburst of democracy on election day, red states, blue states, all around the country. It was also about a call for a larger change, to take on a broken economic system that's rigged in favor of the very wealthy, against working people, and it's fueled by a corrupt political system. And the call was really to reject the status quo, and to reject business as usual. And to do that, I think we need new leadership. We're getting a response from Chuck Schumer right now. Here's what he posted moments ago, "I welcome any discussion about the future of our caucus and the important work ahead. I'm proud of what we've accomplished together. 55 seats and counting is an amazing result, and I have the votes to continue serving as Democratic leader. I look forward to leading our new Democratic majority and delivering for the American people." Senator Schumer saying there that he believes he has the votes to continue serving as the Democratic majority. Senator Schumer is a Democratic leader, folks. But this will be a contested fight. You will have Democratic Senator Van Hollen versus Chuck Schumer. This will not be a coronation. Now, let's take a look at what Dr. Abdul El-Sayed said when he was interviewed earlier today by NPR. Why do you want Senator Chris Van Hollen over Chuck Schumer to be the leader? Play this clip. Why do you want Senator Chris Van Hollen over Senator Chuck Schumer? So I've gotten to know Senator Van Hollen over the course of my campaign. And even before he had supported me openly in the campaign, I've just always admired his approach to leadership. He's willing to take risks when it matters. Flying down to meet Kilmar Abrego-Garcia was a real risk. And that is the Maryland man who was deported to an El Salvadoran prison. Exactly. And he went to check up on his constituent. That's what leadership is about. Now, going back to the interview that Senator Van Hollen did moments ago with Jen Psaki, Senator Van Hollen talked about how this is a generational opportunity. Play this clip. You've, as recently as Saturday, you said you weren't planning to do this. What has changed over the last couple of days? What's changed was the sense of how this is a generational opportunity for the Senate to respond to the call of the American people for change. The scale and scope of this victory, 56 Senate Democratic seats, really gives us a mandate and the votes to do big things. But it should be very clear, while, you know, voters have rejected the Trump policies, they've not yet hired Democrats. They've given us a chance. We have to earn their trust. And my view is that you can't earn that trust with old leadership. You need to move on to new leadership. Jen Psaki then asked, what's the difference between having you as the majority leader versus Schumer? Let's play this clip. So I think a lot of people out there, they did vote for change. They feel that, right? A lot of people who are coming in have expressed an openness to different leadership at the top in the Senate. But for those who are looking at the priorities and they're wondering, what is the difference between having you as the majority leader and Chuck Schumer? For people out there who aren't living in Washington, who aren't attuned to all of the leadership elections, what's the difference? Sure. I think there are a number of differences. One is I believe that we should use our full power in the United States Senate to respond to the calls of the American people. So, for example, the war in Iran, this is an illegal and senseless war. I believe we need to end it now, immediately, to use all our power to do that. That means not one more penny spent on this war so that we can bring prices down. And I think that's what we need to do. And I think that's what prices down right away. I mean, gas prices are up, diesel prices are up. We're going into a winter where home heating oil prices are up. We should end this war and bring down costs now. And what would you do that is different from how Leader Schumer would approach that particular issue? Well, he hasn't taken a position on this. Well, for people who are, you know, they haven't tuned into exactly the differences. So tell them the differences. Well, the difference is, I believe we need to be firm. I think that we heard loud and clear from the American people that they want to end the war in Iran and bring down prices. Like 75% of voters who went to the polls said, end the war, bring down prices. We should do it now. We shouldn't say we're going to wait till January when we have the power to do it on December 11th. And so this should not be a finger in the wind issue. This should not be sort of frittering around. This should not be a question of timidity. We need to answer the call of the American people, end the war, bring down prices, do it now, not a penny, not a penny to fuel this war. So it's about funding for the war. And it's about keeping the Democrats together once they're in the majority to oppose any additional funding. That's one example. I mean, that's an example of immediately using the power that we have, all of the power we have, to answer the call of the American people, which was overwhelming, end the war, bring down costs. And you think that would prompt the President of the United States? He would be forced. To end the war, is your point. You think that's the approach that would force him to end the war? Because Congress can't do it unilaterally. Right. The President would be given a choice, right? Does he say to the American people that I'm going to shut down the United States government? Am I going to shut down all the agencies of the U.S. government to keep the legal war in Iran going and to keep prices high when we could do it now? So the President would have a choice. He could choose to completely ignore the will of the American people and shut down the government. My view is it's our job to do what we think is best for the country. Now, Senator Schumer recently held a press conference where a reporter asked, Senator Sanders just held a press conference with Senator Slotkin of Michigan, and they were saying they want someone new in that position. What's your response? Play this clip. Senator Sanders just held a press conference where he said that he wants to work with the leader. Senator Slotkin was with him. She said that she's a no until she. Senator Slotkin had a detailed plan as to what's going forward, and they both said that the country is crying for a new leadership overall. That was the result of the election. How do you respond to that, and are you still going to be the majority leader? I'm confident I will be elected majority leader, and our caucus is really united in focusing on bringing down costs, on ending the corruption, on ending the chaos, on ending the war. We have great unity in our caucus, and I'll be proud to lead it as majority leader. Let's go to that press conference where you had Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Slotkin. I just want to make sure I'm clarified that we're getting your positions correct. Senator, I hear you saying that you are a no on Schumer, and Senator Slotkin, are you a no until you see a plan, or are you a definite no, not changing your mind on Schumer right now? Whoever wants my vote is going to have to show me a concrete plan that's definitively different. I'm a no until, and unless I see that for a anyone, and frankly suggest that my peers withhold quorum, and if there's only going to be one candidate, withhold quorum until you get that plan, and you feel like you have a voice in that plan. That's my personal view. More over here from Senator Slotkin. Let's play it. This idea that it's progressive versus moderate is just very 2019, right? It's team fight versus team flight. Do you actually want to fight hard for the things that are going to help people, or do you want to just sit there and look at it? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. You look like you're doing something. Then in this interview by Jen Psaki of Senator Van Holland, she said, what's your position of whether the DSCC, the Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee, should take money from AIPAC? Senator Van Holland said, we absolutely should not take money from AIPAC. Play this clip. To this race, I should also note, so does that mean there would be no money taken by the DSCC from AIPAC if you were the leader? So my view is that we shouldn't take it. We shouldn't take it. I don't want to take any AIPAC money at the DSCC. Okay, just to be clear, I just wanted to be clear. More from Senator Van Holland over here criticizing Senator Chuck Schumer for picking sides during primaries of candidates running for the senate play this clip and i will also say and i think it's important jan on the political side of the equation we shouldn't have a democratic leader who is getting involved in picking sides in open democratic primaries and we should be focused on defeating republicans not getting involved we have we have two senators right now in the united states senate who wouldn't be there if the current majority leader had his way he supported establishment candidates in the primaries talking about maine and michigan we're talking about michigan and minnesota okay you're also right about maine you said a lot of things there so let's dig into a couple of them so you think as there was as majority leader you would not take sides in primaries i not certainly not in open primaries okay you wouldn't be recruiting your preferred candidates for primaries you would let the people pick in those states i think the democratic primary voters the voters in the state should pick not washington dc you've also mentioned in the past you've been very critical of leader schumer and the dscc frankly for taking money from apac from the crypto industry if you were the democratic leader would you also not take money would the dscc not take money from apac or from the crypto industry are there other red lines you have on that front so the two races that we talked about you're right uh leader schumer sided with the candidate who is backed by apac and crypto so my view is we should not have a democratic leader who's weighing in in that way in any of these races that's significant though i will remind everybody that senator van holland of maryland that's where he's the senator of he rushed to help uh abrigo garcia when abrigo garcia was kidnapped in el salvador by the trump regime and the bukele dictatorship over there remember senator van holland showed up there he is with the brago garcia and i'll show with you share with you this press conference that senator van holland had when he met with abrigo garcia and remember this was a very these were some of the grimmest and darkest days in our country right when the trump regime's authoritarian power was at its peak and we the people were fighting back when so many institutions were bent and broken bent the knee so it's a big moment right here play this clip of senator van holland let's do it senator what is this what did abrigo garcia say when he was in prison and the officials in el salvador told him about why he was sent to that prison and how long he would be there they haven't told him anything about why he was sent or how long he would be there they didn't tell him anything about that in fact i asked the vice president exactly that question you know why is he here is he violating any laws in el salvador to see do you have any proof that he's committed a crime no why why are you why is he here because the trump administration is paying us to keep him here did he hear from other migrants that were also there that were also deported to that prison did he say what he had heard from others who were also deported to that prison he only he did not know about what was happening in the outside world there you have it everybody let me know what you think get your copy of wtf america the way out of this hell and back to democracy appreciate you grateful for you let me know what you think in the comments it's finally here wtf america the book ira with my brothers is out now it's about how we got into this hell and how we get out scan the qr code click the link in the description or find it anywhere books are sold and order your copy today