WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Bill Stepien abruptly pulled out of Monday’s appearance before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, citing a family emergency, the panel said.
The committee was told on Monday morning that Stepien’s wife was in labor, according to a person briefed on the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of the hearing.
Stepien was expected to be a key witness as the panel delves deeper into what it calls the “big lie,” the defeated Republican president’s false claims of voter fraud that fueled his relentless effort to overturn the 2020 election and led a mob of his supporters to lay siege to the U.S. Capitol. A longtime Trump ally, Stepien had been subpoenaed to appear, and it was unclear if he would have been a cooperative witness.
The committee said Stepien’s counsel will appear and make a statement, and it pushed back its morning start time as lawmakers and staff scrambled for the change of plans.
Monday’s hearing was set to resume with other live witnesses, including a U.S. attorney who abruptly resigned as Trump pressured state officials in Georgia to alter the election results. The committee members say they have uncovered enough evidence for the Justice Department to consider an unprecedented criminal indictment against the former president.
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