Virginia ‘Ginni’ Thomas, a conservative activist, meets with committee investigating final 12 months’s US Capitol riot.
Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the spouse of US Supreme Court docket Justice Clarence Thomas, has been interviewed by the January 6 committee investigating final 12 months’s riot at america Capitol.
Thomas, a conservative activist, appeared on Capitol Hill on Thursday for a voluntary interview with the Congressional panel, which has sought an interview along with her for months.
Her lawyer stated final week that Thomas was “desperate to reply the committee’s inquiries to clear up any misconceptions about her work regarding the 2020 election”.
Thomas has stated she attended a rally held by former President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021, throughout which he made an incendiary speech alleging widespread voter fraud shortly earlier than a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol.
However she stated she “performed no function” in planning what occurred that day, CNN reported earlier this 12 months.
The January 6 panel, which has interviewed greater than 1,000 witnesses in its investigation into the riot in Washington, DC, had hoped to interview Thomas earlier than wrapping up its work.
The Washington Put up reported in March that Thomas “repeatedly pressed” former White Home chief of employees Mark Meadows within the weeks after the 2020 elections that Trump misplaced to President Joe Biden, urging him to proceed to combat to overturn the outcomes.
Trump’s authorized workforce had filed a collection of lawsuits looking for to invalidate the outcomes on the idea of his false voter fraud claims – however a number of US courts rejected these allegations as unfounded.
The Put up cited a November 10, 2020, textual content through which Thomas wrote to Meadows, “Assist This Nice President stand agency, Mark!!! … You’re the chief, with him, who’s standing for America’s constitutional governance on the precipice.”
In that very same textual content, Thomas promoted Trump’s fraud allegations, stating that “Biden and the Left is trying the best Heist of our Historical past”.
The Related Press information company additionally obtained emails from Thomas urging two lawmakers in Arizona to decide on “a clear slate of Electors” and “stand robust within the face of political and media strain”.
Thomas has maintained that her political actions aren’t a battle of curiosity for her husband.
“Like so many married {couples}, we share lots of the identical beliefs, rules, and aspirations for America. However we now have 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,” she advised the Washington Free Beacon in March.
Her husband, Clarence Thomas, was the one member of the US Supreme Court docket to object to a ruling that allowed the January 6 panel entry to presidential diaries, customer logs, speech drafts and handwritten notes regarding the riot.
Thomas has been actively crucial of the January 6 committee and signed a letter calling on Home Republicans to expel Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for his or her involvement within the panel.
Thomas didn’t reply questions when she arrived for the interview with the panel on Thursday, the Reuters and Related Press information businesses reported.
However she advised reporters she was trying ahead to answering questions from the members of the committee, the AP stated.
The panel’s chairperson, Democratic Consultant Bennie Thompson, advised reporters on Wednesday that Thomas would seem earlier than the panel this week.
The committee was anticipated to carry a televised listening to that day, however it was postponed due to an enormous storm, Hurricane Ian, which has battered the state of Florida.