Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court justice, meets with Jan. 6 committee behind closed doors
Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, repeated baseless lies about the 2020 election being stolen from former President Donald Trump during an interview on Thursday with the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
The conservative activist told the panel that she still thinks President Biden’s election was fraudulent, although she offered no evidence in a four-hour session, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said.
“Mrs. Thomas had significant concerns about fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election,” Mark Paoletta, her attorney, said in a statement.
Ginni Thomas answered some questions from the seven Democrats and two Republicans in a voluntary interview behind closed doors.
Thomas agreed to answer questions after a monthslong standoff with the committee, which wants to know about her involvement in former President Donald Trump’s illegal effort to overturn his loss in the 2020 election.
Conservative activist Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, walks to a room at the O'Neill House Office Building, part of the Capitol complex, where she is being interviewed by the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. (J. Scott Applewhite/)
While the extent of her involvement in the Capitol attack is unclear, after major news outlets called the election for Biden, Thomas emailed two lawmakers in Arizona to urge them to choose “a clean slate of electors” and “stand strong in the face of political and media pressure.”
She communicated regularly with John Eastman, a Trump legal adviser who spearheaded the push to create legal doubts about the electors from some battleground states and convince Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the duly elected slates of electors from those states.
Thomas also exchanged text messages with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, urging him to get Trump to fight to stay in power even though he lost the election.
Conservative activist Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, walks during a break in a voluntary interview with the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, at Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. House Office Building, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Washington. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/)
An ardent Trump supporter long active in conservative causes, she has repeatedly maintained that her political activities posed no conflict of interest with the work of her husband.
“Like so many married couples, we share many of the same ideals, principles and aspirations for America. But we have our own separate careers, and our own ideas and opinions, too. Clarence doesn’t discuss his work with me, and I don’t involve him in my work,” Thomas told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview published in March.
Justice Thomas was the lone dissenting voice when the Supreme Court ruled in January to allow a congressional committee access to presidential diaries, visitor logs, speech drafts and handwritten notes relating to the events of Jan. 6.
With News Wire Services
