Demings: ‘We’re not willing to play that game’ of waiting for officials who refuse to testify

Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) said Sunday that House Democrats are “not willing to play that game” of waiting to see if the courts will order White House officials to appear before the House committees. 

ABC’s Martha Raddatz asked the Florida Democrat on “This Week” why House Democrats would not wait to see if officials such as former national security adviser John Bolton and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney would be required to comply with their subpoenas. 

{mosads}Demings responded by saying House Democrats are not planning to “play any games” to delay the impeachment hearing process into President Trump. 

“They want to, what I believe, is to play a political game and tie the process up in the courts as long as they can and run the clock out,” she said. “We’re not willing to play that game.” 

Rep. Val Demings says White House officials not complying with subpoenas in the impeachment inquiry want to “play a political game and tie the process up in the courts as long as they can and run the clock out.”

“We’re not willing to play that game.”https://t.co/rjeu82rI21 pic.twitter.com/HfUas7nL5f

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 1, 2019

The Democrat, who sits on the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees, said lawmakers want to obtain “critical” and “very valuable” subpoenaed documents from these witnesses to guide their questions if they testify.

“If they comply with the document requests, I believe it shows the good faith effort on their part to further cooperate with the inquiry,” Demings said. 

A federal judge ruled this week that former White House counsel Don McGahn had to cooperate with House subpoenas for his testimony.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) announced the impeachment hearings in his committee will start this week and extended an invitation for the president to participate. 

The Intelligence Committee is expected to send out a report Tuesday night based on its impeachment investigation. House Democrats launched an inquiry into the president after a whistleblower reported that Trump asked the Ukrainian president to look into former Vice President Joe Biden.