Nicolle Wallace: Mitch McConnell's rules for impeachment are 'positively Russian'

During a panel discussion on MSNBC this Tuesday, former RNC chairman Michael Steele said that he's hoping moderate Republicans will recognize that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's rules for President Trump's impeachment trial are "not fair."

"This is McConnell's idea of 'fair': no press -- basically limiting their ability to cover this inside the Chamber -- no witnesses, and no documents," Steele said. "And I think the American people need to understand at this moment as this begins is exactly how the Republicans are defining 'fair,' because when they hear them use that term, just remember, the press is limited in their access, there are no witnesses that will be allowed to come and testify and corroborate, on behalf of the President even, the evidence -- Oh, by the way, there's no evidence or documents that can be produced -- that's what [the GOP's version of] fairness is."

"That's a pretty profound point," MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace interjected. "This is positively Russian. I mean, what are the Republicans green-lighting here?"

"What they're green-lighting is the desire and the wish of this president to have himself acquitted," Steele replied. "The desire and the wish of Mitch McConnell to limit this to as short a time period as possible to protect those vulnerable Republicans, because remember, this is not about the Constitution, this is not about the rule of law -- remember, that's what the party once stood for -- this has become a protection game."

Watch the full segment below: