Day's Main Witness Pulls Out of Jan. 6 Hearing

The second in a series of public hearings by a House panel into the Capitol riot begins Monday morning, but there's been an expected wrinkle. The day's star witness—Bill Stepien, the final Trump campaign manager of 2020—is a no-show. Stepien pulled out at the last minute, citing a family emergency, reports the AP. Instead, his lawyer will give a statement to the panel. Stepien had been a subpoenaed witness, and it was unclear how cooperative he would have been had he showed up, notes the Hill. Both outlets cite an anonymous source as saying Stepien's wife went into labor.

The panel had been expected to grill Stepien about former President Trump's aggressive push forward with claims of a stolen election, even though then-Attorney General William Barr and others in the Trump orbit were telling the president it wasn't so. Stepien's last-minute move means the hearing will be pushed back a bit from its scheduled start of 10am Eastern. (Read takeaways from the first hearing last week.)