WASHINGTON (AP) — Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the spouse of Supreme Courtroom Justice Clarence Thomas, stood by the false declare that the 2020 election was fraudulent throughout an interview Thursday with the Home committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot, the panel’s chairman mentioned.
“It’s a piece in progress,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., informed reporters after the greater than four-hour interview ended. “At this level, we’re glad she got here.”
The committee — comprised of seven Democrats and two Republicans — has for months sought an interview with Thomas in an effort to know extra about her function in making an attempt to assist former President Donald Trump overturn his election defeat. The conservative activist texted with White Home chief of employees Mark Meadows and contacted lawmakers in Arizona and Wisconsin within the weeks after the election.
Thomas answered a number of the questions from congressional investigators Thursday as she sought to painting herself as among the many many People who nonetheless consider the baseless declare that the 2020 election was stolen, based on an individual aware of the investigation who was not licensed to debate it publicly.
However she didn’t present any proof or particular reasoning to again up her perception, the particular person mentioned.
“As she has mentioned from the outset, Mrs. Thomas had vital issues about fraud and irregularities within the 2020 election,” Mark Paoletta, her legal professional, mentioned in an announcement. “And, as she informed the Committee, her minimal and mainstream exercise centered on making certain that studies of fraud and irregularities have been investigated.”
“Past that, she performed no function in any occasions after the 2020 election outcomes,” he added.
The testimony from Thomas was one of many final remaining for the panel because it eyes the completion of its work. The panel has already interviewed greater than 1,000 witnesses and proven a few of that video testimony in its eight hearings over the summer season.
The extent of her involvement within the Capitol assault is unclear. Within the days after The Related Press and different information organizations known as the presidential election for Biden, Thomas emailed two lawmakers in Arizona to induce them to decide on “a clear slate of Electors” and “stand sturdy within the face of political and media strain.” The AP obtained the emails earlier this 12 months beneath the state’s open information legislation.
She has mentioned in earlier interviews that she attended the preliminary pro-Trump rally the morning of Jan. 6 however left earlier than Trump spoke and the crowds headed for the Capitol.
Thomas, a Trump supporter lengthy energetic in conservative causes, has repeatedly maintained that her political actions posed no battle of curiosity with the work of her husband.
“Like so many married {couples}, we share most of the identical beliefs, rules, and aspirations for America. However we’ve got our personal separate careers, and our personal concepts and opinions too. Clarence doesn’t focus on his work with me, and I don’t contain him in my work,” Thomas informed the Washington Free Beacon in an interview revealed in March.
Justice Thomas was the lone dissenting voice when the Supreme Courtroom dominated in January to permit a congressional committee entry to presidential diaries, customer logs, speech drafts and handwritten notes regarding the occasions of Jan. 6.
Ginni Thomas has been brazenly vital of the committee’s work, together with signing onto a letter to Home Republicans calling for the expulsion of Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois from the GOP convention for becoming a member of the Jan. 6 congressional committee.
Related Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Lisa Mascaro and Eric Tucker and video journalist Rick Gentilo contributed to this report.
Observe AP’s protection of the Jan. 6 riot at https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege