Van Hollen not sure why he’s on hit list

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said his presence on a “political hit list” maintained by Hillary Clinton aides is news to him, describing it as an “unsolved mystery.”

Van Hollen said he is still trying to figure what he did, asserting that someone might want to pick up a phone and explain his presence on the list. 

{mosads}“I’m trying to figure out this last one. … As I say, it’s an unsolved mystery and maybe someone will pick up the phone and tell me,” Van Hollen said on MSNBC. “Again, this assumes that this is a true report.”

A forthcoming book co-authored by The Hill’s Amie Parnes and Politico’s Jonathan Allen about Clinton — HRC: States Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton — describes a list drawn up by aides to Clinton that cataloged lawmakers and superdelagates who betrayed the candidate during the 2008 primary. 

The book describes how the list ranked lawmakers numerically on how helpful they had been during the primary. Van Hollen, among others, received the worst rating possible on the list. 

Van Hollen said he is a huge supporter of Clinton and reiterated that he hopes she will run for president in 2016. 

“I hope she will run for president,” he said. “And I’ve indicated, I would be a supporter of Hillary Clinton, if she runs.”

The Maryland lawmaker headed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2008 and said he remained neutral during the primary. 

“I didn’t get involved in the primary — the Democratic primary that year,” he said. “I was focused on supporting all our candidates and trying to make sure that whoever emerged as the presidential nominee for the Democrats would support our efforts.”

As a superdelegate, Van Hollen waited until then-Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) had locked up the nomination before coming out in support of him. He publically backed Obama in June 2008 — three days before Clinton conceded the primary.

“So if this is true, and again, I have just read the reports, it’s a mystery to me and I’d be interested in hearing what the basis of it is — would be,” he said. 

Read more from The Hill:

Hillary’s hit list

Kerry, Kennedy top Clinton’s traitor list

Sen. McCaskill didn’t want to be in same elevator with Hillary Clinton