Stepien seems to run with the wrong crowd. He’s no angel.
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It’s not like the term of most pregnancies isn’t knowable in advance, and then there’s induction to fine-tune things. Given the hostile witness vibe and the consulting for Cheney’s primary opponent, it doesn’t take a cynic to see this as a calculated stunt, especially if his wife is also one of the maga faithful. But I suppose the import of this ultimately depends what they already have on video vs what they expected to get from him live.
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Presumably because he had some favorable testimony they wanted him to give, and they have their own schedule that they were not going to disrupt just on his contingency.
I’m a skeptic of Stepien testifying. But even I will give him a pass for birthin’ a baby.
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It’s one thing to testify in a closed room, without TV cameras.
Quite another thing to put a face to that testimony. This guy’s running the campaign for the candidate for Liz’s House seat. You really think he wants to give the dems in the race the opportunity to play clips of him pissing on TFG?
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Just a guess here but the committee was likely aware that his wife was nearing her due date. They were probably ready for this.
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It might actually be much better that he isn’t testifying live and that they’ll use his closed-door testimony instead. There’ll be no speeches defending Trump, no hedging for a party of one, none of that. Plus, I bet he was much more candid than he would ever be when he knows Trump is watching.
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Takes a heartless bastard, tho.
Sheesh, just off the stress levels alone of having a loved one testifying to Congress, can see how that may well have moved things along.
The reactions are sounding way too much like the people we’re supposedly not like.
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They do cameras. You may have noted that from Jared and Ivanka and Enrique and whatnot being presented on video the other day.
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Yeah, my first thought was that the Don had threatened him with bodily harm, but I’ll give him a pass if his child is being born. Plus, if he’s already testified, this was just to get him to say it on TV. No big whoop.
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I’m going to assume that the committee has video of his previous testimony, and they may run that today. So that isn’t a reason to avoid testifying.
I’m open to the idea that this is some kind of ruse to cover for backing out at the last minute. I just don’t see that he gains anything when the committee probably already has video of his testimony.
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Yup, they are cuing up the video of his deposition.
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♫♫ Always look on the briiiiiiiight side of life…da da…da da da da da da ♫♫ 
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Guaranteed that every single witness is already nailed down. Nobody is being called for public hearing whose testimony is not already known and demonstrably on video.
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“Because not every birth is predictable?”
That’s my point. The timing of labor being unpredictable is predictable.
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No, but they were willing to stomach it and support him. Got to earn your way back into the trust of society after that.
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Fucking hell. People like him shouldn’t be reproducing.
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Would have been nice, knowing that his wife was about to deliver (?), if he had brought that to the attention of the committee, so they could have something prepared as contingency.
But…he’s a Republican after all.
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" A Politico reporter tweeted that the emergency is “genuine” and that Stepien’s wife is in labor."
It makes me so sad to hear that this guy is reproducing.
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IMO the committee looks better by saying, “OK, family emergency. Welcome to the newest member of the Stepien family. We’ll use existing taped testimony.” Looks compassionate, reality-based, and flexible, while maintaining their narrative and professionalism.
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I begin to think these folks know exactly what they are doing. Gee, maybe Attorney General Garland was smart to let the committee finish their work before he does his.
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