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

Former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien cites a family emergency
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 13, 2022 9:12 AM CDT
Key Witness in Jan. 6 Hearing Is a No-Show
The dome of the US Capitol Building is visible before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol holds its second public hearing Monday.   (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

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.)

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