The “star witness” for the January 6th Committee has dropped out of his intended appearance at the public hearings.
The 2020 campaign manager for former President Donald Trump was expected to testify at Monday night’s hearings. However, he instead dropped out at the last minute, citing a “family emergency”. His attorney will instead make an appearance for him on the record.
“Due to a family emergency, Mr. William Stepien is unable to testify before the Select Committee this morning,” the committee’s statement read. “His counsel will appear and make a statement on the record.”
CNN’s Chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins later confirmed that Stepien’s wife is in labor. Collins also claimed that the attorney said that Stepien’s previous video testimony would be used instead of a simple statement by the lawyer like the Committee had claimed.
Regardless of how the message is delivered, the last-minute loss of such a key live witness is certain to damage the Democrats’ attempt to publicize January 6th, 2021 again.
Stepien had been subpoenaed by the Committee for his involvement in the “Stop the Steal” rallies as well as claiming that voting machines had been tampered with. They said that the former campaign manager had told other Trump officials to tell “states to delay or deny certification of electoral votes and by sending multiple slates of electoral votes to the United States Congress.”
The Committee claims to be trying to piece together what Trump’s campaign officials had been telling the former president about the 2020 election results.
On Monday the January 6th Committee stated, “The Select Committee will present evidence that Trump knew he lost the 2020 election but continued to spread false claims of election fraud. Trump’s false claims set the stage for the violent attack on January 6.”
Members of the Committee have so far promised that their findings will change history and lead to a criminal indictment of former President Trump over his ties to the January 6th riot. Do you think they actually have what they claim to have or is this just a last minute push to help Democrats before the upcoming election?
