Bill Stepien, the former campaign manager for former US President Donald Trump, was set to testify before the House Select Committee on Monday as the committee looks to gather evidence to indict Trump for his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 US Presidential Elections, which culminated in the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

However, Stepien was unable to attend the hearing due to a “family emergency,” as his wife went into labor.

Stepien was among the five witnesses who were called to testify on Monday: the others were former Fox News editor Chris Stirewalt, former US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia BJay Pak, conservative election attorney Benjamin Ginsberg, and former city commissioner of Philadelphia Al Schmidt.

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A long-time Republican, Stepien served as the White House Director of Political Affairs under the Trump administration between 2017 and 2018 before replacing Brad Parscale as Trump’s campaign manager for the 2020 US Presidential Elections.

A graduate of Rutgers University, Stepien’s political career began under late Republican leader Anthony Bucco in 1997.

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In 2000, Stepien worked on late Republican Bob Franks’ Senate race, before helping Bill Baroni win a New Jersey State Assembly seat in 2003 and making Baroni the only Republican to oust a Democratic incumbent that year.

Stepien then went on to work on Chris Christie’s successful campaign for the Governorship of New Jersey in 2009, before serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs under Christie.

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Stepien, however, resigned from the post after a brief period, and served as the manager of Christie’s successful re-election campaign in 2013, but was fired by Christie in 2014 due to links between Stepien and the Fort Lee lane closure scandal.

Despite his unceremonious departure from the Christie administration, in August 2016, Stepien was chosen to work on Donald Trump’s presidential election campaign that saw Trump become the 45th President of the United States.