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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
John Bowden

Jan 6 committee member Jamie Raskin says he wants Ginni Thomas to testify

Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

A member of the January 6 committee said on Sunday that he believes the wife of a Supreme Court justice, who assisted in the campaigns to overturn election results in two states, has “relevant” testimony that his fellow lawmakers would like to hear.

But he stopped short of indicating that the panel would issue a subpoena targeting Ginni Thomas, wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, as the panel has done for numerous allies of former President Donald Trump.

Congressman Jamie Raskin made the comments Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation.

“I, speaking as one member and only as one member, I would say she has a relevant testimony to render,” Mr Raskin told CBS’s Major Garrett.

“[S]he should come forward and give it,” he continued.

Ms Thomas has given no indication that she would comply with a voluntary request for testimony about her role in the post-election efforts to block Joe Biden from ascending to the White House, and has not commented publicly on the matter. Neither has her husband, a sitting Supreme Court justice, even given criticism over his role in being the lone dissenting vote in a case brought to the court to determine whether Donald Trump’s White House needed to give some documents to the Jan 6 committee.

She was previously known to have emailed numerous Republican lawmakers in Arizona in 2020 with the hopes of persuading them to vote on a resolution declaring (without constitutional authority) their own state’s election results invalid.

Now, it is known through public records requests that Ms Thomas’s activities were at work in Wisconsin as well. Both states flipped for Joe Biden in 2020 after being lost by Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Subpoenaing the spouse of a sitting Supreme Court justice would be a historical and unprecedented move for a congressional committee tasked with investigating one of the most shocking days in US political history. It also isn’t clear if Ms Thomas’s testimony about her own efforts would be relevant to the overall efforts of the Trump campaign.

The campaign to overturn the 2020 election has, so far, resulted in the suspension of the New York law license of Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s lead attorney. Members of Mr Trump’s legal team including Mr Giuliani are thought to be under investigation in Georgia for their efforts to pressure local officials in that state.

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