Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has reportedly said that she’ll agree to an interview with the House select committee investigating the Jan 6 riot.
Ms Thomas quoted by the Daily Caller saying she was “looking forward” to sitting before the panel, a response that arrives after the chairman of the committee said it would seek testimony from her about her alleged involvement in trying to persuade Trump officials to participate in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
“I can’t wait to clear up misconceptions. I look forward to talking to them,” the Supreme Court justice’s wife told Shelby Talcott, who tweeted about the comment shortly after the committee’s third public hearing had gotten underway on Thursday afternoon.
The move to call upon Ms Thomas to testify comes after several news outlets reported that the panel obtained evidence that shows Ms Thomas communicated with John Eastman, one of the senior figures in Donald Trump’s White House who worked to convince then-vice president Mike Pence to follow-through with the then-president’s plan not to certify the 2020 election.
“We think it’s time that we, at some point, invite her to come talk to the committee,” said Rep Bennie Thompson, just before the Thursday’s afternoon public hearing.
As the wife of a sitting Supreme Court justice, who themselves are supposed to abstain from taking on political causes and who are often quoted saying that they’re decisions are above politics, her political activities inside DC were already a source of criticism, even before the January 6 revelations came to light.
This criticism, however, has taken on a new life after text messages between Ms Thomas and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows were released by the panel. The messages showed the Supreme Court justice’s wife attempting to convince White House staff to go along with Mr Trump’s attempts to overturn the election.
Messages between Ms Thomas and dozens of other GOP-aligned state lawmakers in Arizona also revealed how she had executed the same manoeuvres in a key swing state that ultimately went blue in 2020.
Later, she acknowledged attending the 6 January 2021 ‘Stop the Steal’ rally in Washington DC itself, though she is not believed to have entered the Capitol building during the riot that followed the rally.
On Thursday, the Daily Caller released a letter that the House select committee sent to Ms Thomas where they requested an interview with her to discuss “information concerning John Eastman’s plans and activities relevant to” their investigation .
“The Committee believes that you likely have information relevant to our investigation, and we request an interview with you to discuss your knowledge of certain events and activities following the November 2020 presidential election,” it reads. “We respect your privacy, and our questions will be limited to issues relating to January 6th, the activities that contributed to or influenced events on January 6th, and the transfer of power after the presidential election.”
The letter, signed by signed by Mr Thompson and Vice Chair Liz Cheney, offers up several dates for Ms Thomas to meet with the committee members, noting that they’d prefer to discuss the listed matters with her “soon”.
In addition to the sitdown meeting, the 6 January committee also asked that Ms Thomas forward a slew of documents that could be relevant to their probe, which included “documents and communications referring or relating in any way to plans, efforts, or discussions regarding challenging, decertifying, overturning, contesting, or delaying the results or certification of the 2020 Presidential election” and “all documents and communications with Department of Justice officials or employees related in any way to the 2020 election,” according to the letter.
The letter notes that if any of the proposed dates do not align with Ms Thomas’ schedule, then they’d be willing to find another time that suits better during the week of 11 July.
With files from John Bowden
