Former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien won’t appear at Jan 6 hearing, due to ‘family emergency’

Former president Donald Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien will not appear before the House select committee investigating the January 6 riot on Monday, citing a “family emergency.”

Mr Stepien was set to testify on Monday in a hearing focused on how Mr Trump sought to overturn the 2020 election results. Former Fox News employee Chris Stirewalt, who worked for the network when it declared that President Joe Biden won Arizona, will also testify.

For the second part of the hearing, Republican election lawyer Ben Ginsberg, former US Attorney for Atlanta Byung J. “BJay” Pak--who resigned when he learned Mr Trump would fire him because he wouldn’t investigate alleged voter fraud--and former Philadelphia city commissioner Al Schmidt.

According to Politico’s Nicholas Wu, Mr Stepien’s wife is currently in labour.

The hearing is the second in a series of hearings and the first of three to take place this week. The select committee held its first prime time hearing on Thursday evening where it heard testimony from journalist Nicholas Quested and US Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards.

The hearing garnered 20m viewers and featured not-previously-seen footage from former attorney general William Barr refuting claims that the election was stolen as well as Mr Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, who said she respected Mr Barr’s opinion, and her husband Jared Kushner, both of whom worked in the administration.

As a result of Mr Stepien’s absence, the hearing will be delayed.