Former Trump aides testify in Jan. 6 hearing
WASHINGTON — Former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien and former Attorney General Bill Barr recounted in video depositions their repeated admonitions to former President Donald Trump that his election fraud claims were groundless, in the second hearing this month by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection focused on the former president’s decision to spread false allegations of election fraud.
Several of Trump’s closest aides in the White House and his campaign told the committee of their growing dismay when Trump dismissed multiple warnings between the Nov. 3, 2020, election and Jan. 6, 2021, that the claims he pushed had been investigated but could not be proved.
In a deposition presented at the hearing, Barr recounted a conversation he had with Trump the day the Electoral College met and voted, in which the president told Barr new purported evidence of problems with voting machines in rural Michigan would assure Trump would serve a second term.
“I was somewhat demoralized because I thought, ‘Boy, if he really believes this stuff, he has lost contact with ... he’s become detached from reality,’” Barr said. “On the other hand, you know, when I went into this and would tell him how crazy some of these allegations were, there was never an indication of interest in what the actual facts are. My opinion then and my opinion now is that the election was not stolen by fraud. And I haven’t seen anything since the election that changes my mind on that.”
Similar to the first hearing, Monday’s presentation heavily relied on records and clips of testimony from depositions. Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, DMiss., led the hearing with Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., laying out what happened behind the scenes with the Trump campaign on election night that led to the president’s decision to declare victory that evening — even though he was repeatedly told the results did not back his assertion.
“It was far too early to make any calls like that. Ballots were still being counted, ballots were still going to be counted for days. It was far too early to be making any proclamations like that,” Stepien told the committee in a recorded deposition, which was played at the hearing after he had a family emergency and withdrew from testifying in person.
Stepien, who was Trump’s final campaign manager, said that the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, pushed Trump to announce that he had won anyway.
In video testimony released Monday, former Trump aide Jason Miller testified that a “definitely intoxicated” Giuliani spoke to the president several times on the evening of the election and was the only one in the Trump campaign circle advocating for a victory declaration before the night ended.