"He continues to spread it to this very day." "I think any reasonable person in America will tell you he had to have known he was spreading a big lie," he added.
"He heard it from the White House counsel, he heard it from all of the lawyers who threatened to resign if he staged his little mini coup against the Department of Justice by installing someone that would go along with his fairy tale about their having been electoral fraud and corruption." "He was surrounded by lawyers, including the Attorney General of the United States William Barr, telling him in no uncertain terms in terms that Donald Trump could understand, this is BS," Raskin said. Raskin also said one of the goals of the hearings is to prove to "any reasonable, open-minded person" that Trump knew he'd lost the election and wanted to overturn the results anyway. "Everything we're doing is documented by evidence, unlike the Big Lie, which is based on nonsense as a former Attorney General Barr said, everything that we're doing is based on facts." "It is multiple members of Congress, as the Vice-Chair said at our opening hearing, and all in due course, the details will surface," he said. Scott Perry, Raskin called it "shocking." On the committee revealing this week that multiple Republican lawmakers sought pardons from then-President Donald Trump including Rep. They know the importance of it but I think they are rightfully paying close attention to precedent in history as well as the facts of this case." I think that he knows, his staff knows, US attorneys know, what's at stake here. "One of the conventions that was crushed during the Trump administration was respect by politicians for the independence of the law enforcement function," he told CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union." "Attorney General Garland is my constituent, and I don't browbeat my constituents. He said it’s his understanding video testimony of Stepien will be played today.ĬNN's Annie Grayer contributed reporting to this post. Stepien’s lawyer Kevin Marino stopped at the witness door pool cam at before the hearing began and said Stepien was planning to appear under subpoena, but learned his wife went into labor. The source said they have been pulling such video clips for all witnesses, in case an emergency arises or witnesses were unable to testify due to a Covid-19 complication. The source says the committee has been prepared for such contingencies and has at its disposal deposition video clips from Stepien’s earlier testimony. 6 select committee’s plans says it is “disruptive” that Stepien isn’t testifying today, but argues that the committee will still be able to make their points. Stepien was set to be one of five witnesses testifying before the panel Monday and was among the most high profile given his proximity to Trump and his campaign.Ī source familiar with the Jan. Stepien's wife is in labor, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN, which is why the committee has released him from his subpoena for the day. Stepien, who was at the center of former President Trump’s orbit as he sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election, was not eager to testify but did not want to defy a subpoena, a source familiar with his thinking told CNN's Kaitlan Collins. His counsel will appear and make a statement on the record," according to the release. William Stepien is unable to testify before the Select Committee this morning. 6 committee today "due to a family emergency," according to a release from the committee. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)įormer Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien will no longer be appearing in front of the Jan. Then-campaign manager Bill Stepien stands alongside then-President Donald Trump aboard Air Force One in August 2020. Read more about today's hearing in the posts below.