Bill Stepien

After the election, Stepien said two camps emerged within the campaign — "Team Normal," of which he was part, and "Rudy's Team," referring to those who ...

Former Republican operative David Wildstein testified in the 2016 trial that Stepien knew about the plan to close traffic lanes to create gridlock to punish the Democratic Fort Lee mayor. The campaign operative flipped a Democratic district to Republican in 2003 while running Bill Baroni's State Assembly race, a job that led to positions at the Republican National Committee, and later, the 2008 presidential campaigns of both Rudy Giuliani and Senator John McCain. "I didn't think what was happening was necessarily honest or professional at that point in time," he said of those fueling false claims the election was rigged. Thousands of emails and text messages revealed plans by Christie's administration in 2013 to close traffic lanes in Fort Lee, New Jersey, leading to the George Washington Bridge – political retaliation against the mayor for not supporting the governor's reelection campaign. Just like I did in 2016, I did in 2020," Stepien said, according to a recorded interview. He said Mr. Trump disagreed with him, saying he "was going to go in a different direction."

Bill Stepien, President Donald J. Trump's campaign manager during the 2020 election, will not appear in person as scheduled to testify on Monday before the ...

Mr. Trump had told aides weeks before Election Day that he would declare victory that night even if the races hadn’t been called. Mr. Stepien had been set to appear under subpoena, and it was unclear how willing he would have been to deliver testimony that could be damaging to Mr. Trump. He is also advising Harriet Hageman, the candidate challenging the committee’s co-chair, Rep. Liz Cheney, in a Republican primary in Wyoming. The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol has zeroed in on how many times Mr. Trump was told he had lost, but persisted with his efforts to thwart the results. Panel members likely would have asked Mr. Stepien about those conversations, as well as about the fund-raising efforts the Trump campaign made related to the former president’s baseless claims of widespread fraud. Mr. Stepien, who was appointed to the role in July 2020, was present for the discussions in which Mr. Trump’s aides laid out for him what the data showed about whether it remained possible to thwart Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory. Mr. Stepien had been expected to testify on what the president had been told about whether he had lost the election, starting with conversations on election night.

Trump's former campaign manager is testifying after getting subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 panel.

Stepien has also previously refused to comply with a high profile investigation. There is potential for conflict during Monday's hearings. Stepien was present on November 7, 2020, when Trump was told that Joe Biden was the winner of the election and that the former president was unlikely to succeed in any of his appeals against the results—advice the former president ultimately ignored.

Bill Stepien, Donald Trump's 2020 re-election campaign manager, will not testify as scheduled Monday before the House committee investigating the Jan.

Trump's former campaign manager represents many Republicans who have entertained false claims that the election was stolen.

Mullin called Biden “ illegitimate,” and Davidson wrote an op-ed asserting Congress’s authority to decide the election on Jan. 6. Charges: Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four lieutenants have been charged with seditious conspiracy, joining Oathkeepers leader Stewart Rhodes and about two dozen associates in being indicted for their participation in the Capitol attack. Five people died on that day or in the immediate aftermath, and 140 police officers were assaulted. The day before the Jan. 6 riot, she spoke at a rally outside the Capitol where she quoted Hitler, prompting calls for her resignation; she later apologized. Smith, the Missouri congressman, demanded a federal investigation into election fraud shortly after Election Day in 2020. “The way Mr. Stepien always conducts himself is by following the numbers and being completely truthful and accurate about where they are,” Marino said. “He didn’t want to stay around for any of it.” Stepien complained privately that Trump was no longer listening to legal advice from figures like Justin Clark, Stepien’s business partner, and was instead focused on conspiracy theorists such as Sidney Powell, a former assistant U.S. attorney. “There are many of us who remain concerned about the various reports of fraud and irregularity over the election, who should have gotten a better hearing. But he sometimes painted a more optimistic picture for Trump, according to people who heard his presentations. “I think on the way, I’ve built up a pretty good, I hope, a good reputation for being honest and professional. Stepien was not alone in trying to back away from Trump’s embrace of some electoral delusions while at the same time retaining his personal favor.

Donald Trump's campaign manager is convinced he was one of the normal ones. Day two of the January 6th Committee's public hearings focused on demonstrating ...

In Stepien’s view the bad actor that needed to be punished wasn’t Rudy and the rest of Team Crazy. It was Liz Cheney, for holding his manhood cheap, and saying publicly everything he knew to be true in private. Stepien had the opportunity to do what Cheney did. Stepien “didn’t want it widely known” that he disagreed with the party line. But they might still bring on a “normal” “professional” who sat in silence as the world burned. Did he call cabinet officials to tell them to consider the 25th Amendment? Did he go to Congress, like Chris Krebs? Did he testify against his boss at the impeachment hearings? They weren’t nudging Trump along with them, Trump was nudging them along with him. He knew that Trump would go all manner of lengths to keep his grip on power, democracy be damned. Group A—we’ll call them the Ultra-Coup crowd—was led by an “ apparently inebriated” Rudy Giuliani (redundant?) and his crack(en) team of legal eagles and pillow profiteers. I-I- didn’t mind being characterized as being part of team normal as reporters kind of started to do around that point in time. Day two of the January 6th Committee’s public hearings focused on demonstrating that Trump and his inner circle knew that they were perpetrating a fraud on the public. That was never going to happen. And he didn’t just take some arm’s length consultancy providing powerpoint decks from the comfort of a Cape May beach house.

Former Trump campaign chief Bill Stepien will no longer testify before the January 6 committee on Monday due to what the committee called a "family ...

And we will see this one day as the outrageous attack on our system, on the prior president, on scores of people that it truly is," he added. Stepien was originally expected to be the star witness of Monday's hearing. Some conservatives have already dismissed the committee's hearings as a "sham," however.

Former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said what happened following after election night ultimately led to him step away from it.

Committee staff aides have stated that it wants to use these hearings to make the case that Trump played a big role in a orchestrated effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Trump's claim that he could still win the 2020 presidential elections as more state election results came in was a "very, very bleak" approach, Stepien said. Stepien is a longtime political adviser who has worked for several Republican politicians, including the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, former President George W. Bush, and former New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie.