The Senate's longest-serving member, 80-year-old Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, was taken to a hospital Tuesday evening for observation after not feeling well, a spokesman said.
Now, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont is stepping into one of his most visible and physically grueling roles: presiding over former President Donald Trump's second Senate impeachment trial.
“I had some muscle spasms," Leahy, 80, told reporters the morning after feeling ill in his Capitol office.
Carle, Leahy's spokesperson, said Senate leaders have been discussing the trial process, and it is “likely to be limited in duration.” Trump's first impeachment trial lasted almost three weeks.
Leahy will preside as Senate president pro tempore, a largely ceremonial post that usually goes to the majority party's longest-serving member.