WASHINGTON — The House panel investigating last year’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is poised to discuss Monday whether to seek an interview with Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, about her text messages with a top White House official about overturning the 2020 election, officials familiar with the matter said.
Although some committee members initially resisted calls to interview Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist, there is growing sentiment on the panel to ask her to voluntarily appear for a deposition, two officials said. Still, it remains unclear what course the committee will take.
The discussion is likely to take place in private and not be addressed when the panel meets publicly at 7:30 p.m. to vote on whether to hold two former Trump aides in contempt for refusing to testify.
The select committee’s Democratic chairman, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, has been inclined to bring in Ginni Thomas. A key influence on any action is Republican Vice Chair Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who is not objecting to the idea, one of the officials said. Cheney hasn’t publicly commented.
Some members of the panel had previously argued that interviewing Ginni Thomas about her actions surrounding Jan. 6, including the days after the attack, would distract from the committee’s other investigative pursuits and give Republicans another opportunity to charge that the probe is partisan, one of the officials said.
The committee is investigating the origins of the Jan. 6, 2021, siege at the Capitol by a mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters that interrupted a joint session of Congress to certify Electoral College votes and Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
The committee has not convened since The Washington Post and CBS News reported last week that Ginni Thomas, 65, had texted Trump’s last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, to urge more to be done to overturn Trump’s 2020 presidential election loss. Meadows had turned over text messages to the committee before refusing further cooperation.
The revelations prompted outside groups and some lawmakers to call for Thomas to recuse himself from any case involving the Jan. 6 probe. Thomas was the lone dissenter in a case this year on giving the panel access to some of Trump’s papers.
The committee is trying to wrap up what has been more than 350 interviews with witnesses, most behind closed doors. Thompson has said the panel is aiming to hold public hearings by May and issue an interim report of its findings in the coming weeks.
