Key Democrat hopes Trump will participate in impeachment hearings

Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) said Sunday she hopes President Trump will participate in the House Judiciary Committee’s impeachment hearings.

Demings, a member of the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees, told Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week” that the House Democrats have not decided what future hearings will hold and which witnesses will be called because they are prioritizing having the president attend.

“I think our main focus right now is to have the president and his counsel, who you know are given the same privileges as President Nixon and President Clinton had to participate and engage in this impeachment process,” she said.

Rep. Val Demings says he hopes Pres. Trump will participate in the impeachment inquiry: “We are certainly hoping the president, his counsel will take advantage of that opportunity.”

The White House has not indicated whether they will participate. https://t.co/rjeu82rI21 pic.twitter.com/PKliqBruUD

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 1, 2019

Demings said committee members have not received any word from the White House on whether the president and his counsel will participate in the hearings. 

“We are certainly hoping that the president, his counsel will take advantage of that opportunity,” Demings said. “If he hasn’t done anything wrong, we are certainly anxious to hear his explanation of that.”

{mosads}Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) announced that the committee plans to hold its first impeachment hearing Wednesday. He sent a letter to the White House inviting the president to participate in the hearing to ensure “a fair and informative process.” 

This will be the third phase of the impeachment inquiry ahead of potentially bringing articles of impeachment to the House floor.

The Intelligence Committee plans to review a report based on its investigation on Monday and adopt the report Tuesday before sending it to the Judiciary Committee.