Former Justice Department official, Fox News executive to testify at Jan. 6 committee

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot resumes its hearings Monday morning with live witnesses, building on a prime-time hearing last week that started to detail how former president Donald Trump pursued his false claims about the November 2020 election even after a host of officials advised him there was no fraud.

The session on Monday delves deeper into what it calls "the big lie," Trump's false claims of voter fraud that fuelled his relentless effort to overturn the 2020 election and led a mob of his supporters to lay siege to the U.S. Capitol.

The committee is set to hear testimony from Chris Stirewalt, a former Fox News political editor closely involved in election night coverage who stood by the decision to declare Arizona as being won by Biden. In subsequent weeks, Fox broadcast several claims of electoral fraud by Trump surrogates including lawyer Rudy Guiliani.

Stirewalt, in an essay published on The Dispatch early Monday on why he's testifying, said the stakes for the hearing are significant.

"What Trump and his gang did in the 2020 election and its aftermath is a big historical moment for our country, far bigger than the Watergate scandal we still discuss 50 years later," he wrote.

The first group of witnesses was supposed to include former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, who prior to that role spent several years as an influential Fox News executive. But the committee said Monday morning that due to a family emergency, Stepien wouldn't appear, pushing back the start time of the hearing until at least 10:30 a.m.ET.

Stepien's planned appearance was not voluntary, as he had been subpoenaed by the committee.

The committee said Stepien's counsel will appear and make a statement on the record.

WATCH | Trump claims were 'influencing a lot of people,' his former attorney general says:

A second group of witnesses testifying Monday will be made up of election officials, investigators and experts who are likely to discuss Trump's responses to the election, including dozens of failed court challenges, and how his actions diverged from U.S. norms.

Among them is the former U.S. attorney in Atlanta, B.J. Pak, who resigned from the Justice Department after being tasked by the Trump administration to find examples of electoral fraud in Georgia that did not exist. The panel will also hear from former Philadelphia City commissioner Al Schmidt, a Republican who faced down criticism as Pennsylvania's election was called for Biden; and noted Washington attorney and elections lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg.

Monday's hearing will also turn to the millions of dollars Trump's team brought in fundraising in the run-up to Jan. 6, according to a committee aide who insisted on anonymity to discuss the details with the Associated Press.

The committee, investigating the early 2021 attack for the past year, has warned that Trump's effort to overturn Joe Biden's election victory posed a grave threat and precedent for future U.S. elections.

The panel does not have the power to hand down indictments, but could ratchet up the pressure on the Justice Department if it lays out compelling evidence crimes were committed.