Aides said the hearing would show how Trump’s team pursued legal disputes in court and lost those cases, and that Trump then chose to ignore the will of the courts and continue to try to overturn the election. The hearing will also seek to link Trump’s lies about the January 6, 2021 US Capitol election, aides said, including the way rioters repeated the former president’s baseless allegations that the election was rigged. Stepien will testify alongside former Fox director Chris Stirewalt, whose decision to call Arizona for Joe Biden on election night has angered Trump’s campaign – and Fox conservative hosts. A second group of witnesses testifying Monday includes a former U.S. attorney for the Northern District, Georgia BJay Pak, who was forced to accept Trump’s allegations of fraud and resigned. former Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt, who dismissed false allegations of electoral fraud in Philadelphia. and conservative election lawyer Ben Ginsberg, who is expected to speak out on the failed lawsuits being pursued by Trump’s team. Stepien is perhaps the most compelling witness as a key member of Trump’s team during the 2020 campaign.
Dismissing Trump’s allegations of fraud
The hearing is the second of seven scheduled by the Jan. 6 commission for this month, as it sets out a case that puts Trump at the center of efforts to overthrow the 2020 election and the violence that unfolded in the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Monday’s hearing focuses on electoral fraud, and the commission seeks to prove to the public that Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen – embraced by a significant percentage of Republicans, including many Republican candidates running for office. .
“We will reveal information about how the former president’s political apparatus used these lies about fraudulent elections to lead to fundraising, generating hundreds of millions of dollars between election day 2020 and January 6,” said one aide.
Not only has Trump continued to claim unfoundedly that he won the 2020 election, but the former president has used electoral fraud as a stepping stone to approving Republican candidates this year. He has also focused on defeating Republicans who have refuted his false allegations – including Jan. 6 Vice President Liz Cheney of Wyoming. Stepien advises Trump-backed Harriet Hageman’s campaign to challenge Cheney in the primary. Stepien’s company has received more than $ 190,000 since Hageman’s campaign this campaign for strategy and fundraising advice and video production, according to the federal election.
Schmidt and Pak were both able to investigate fraud allegations after the 2020 election and neither revealed evidence of fraud.
Pack resigned after learning that Trump was considering ousting him in early January, at the same time that Trump urged Republican Foreign Minister Brad Rafensperger to “find” enough votes for Trump to win. Pack appeared voluntarily before the House selection committee on Monday after receiving a letter of invitation. He does not testify by summons, his lawyer, Edward Kang, told CNN.
Trump’s aide submits – and more videos
Stepien’s role in the hearing – and what he has to say about electoral fraud – could be one of the highlights of Monday. But aides said they also planned to play more videos from behind-the-scenes interviews with many in Trump’s trajectory. These videos proved essentially at the commission’s inaugural hearing Thursday, which previewed the way in which the committee was told that many of those around Trump knew his allegations of electoral fraud were false. The panel showed closed-door video footage of former Attorney General William Barr, who said the allegations of fraud were “bullshit” and of Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, who said she respected Bar and “accepted what he said.” that did not exist. t significant electoral fraud. Trump’s chief data expert told the president “quite bluntly that he would lose,” Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller told the commission in a statement played at last week’s hearing. The deposition videos are just excerpts from lengthy interviews, and Miller said Thursday that he had been removed from the box. But Stepien’s appearance shows that the Jan. 6 committee is not going to rely solely on video presentations during this month’s auditions.
A more traditional listening
The first hearing was attended by two witnesses – a Capitol police officer and a documentary with extremist groups on January 6 – but their testimony came after a lengthy presentation by committee chairman Benny Thompson and Cheney summarizing the The commission’s findings, as well as lengthy videos showing new footage of the violent attack on the Capitol. Aides said Monday’s hearing would be a return to a more traditional congressional hearing, with the rest of the committee questioning two groups of witnesses. While Thompson is leading the hearing, Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California, will play a key role in Monday’s hearing that focuses on voter fraud, aides said. It is a pattern that is likely to continue with other committee members at future hearings, which will look at how Trump and his allies tried to put pressure on the Justice Department, state legislatures and former Vice President Mike Pence. , to help try to overthrow the election, and what the commission says is Trump’s role in inciting unrest in the Capitol and his failure to respond as the violence unfolded. CNN’s Katelyn Polantz contributed to this report.
