Members of the congressional committee investigating the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol are considering whether to question Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, CNN and CBS report.
Ms Thomas, a Washington-based lobbyist, is facing scrutiny after documents turned over to the committee revealed she sent numerous messages to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows urging the administration to contest the 2020 election results – even as state vote totals showed a Biden win.
Some committee members are reportedly worried, however, about the potential controversy and legal fight that could result from questioning the spouse of a sitting Supreme Court member.
Previous attempts to question conservative figures tied to the 6 January investigation have resulted in prolonged battles over subpoenas.
Mr Meadows shared the texts in question as part of his partial cooperation with the 6 January investigation.
In the messages, Ms Thomas urges the White House official to hold fast to Donald Trump’s baseless claims about a rigged election.
“Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!!” reads one message from November she sent to the top Trump official, after news networks predicted a Biden win. “You are the leader, with him, who is standing for America’s constitutional governance at the precipice. The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History.”
In another message two days after the election, Ms Thomas appeared to be quoting from right-wing conspiracy theories.
“Biden crime family & ballot fraud co-conspirators (elected officials, bureaucrats, social media censorship mongers, fake stream media reporters, etc) are being arrested & detained for ballot fraud right now & over coming days, & will be living in barges off GITMO to face military tribunals for sedition,” she wrote to the White House official on 5 November.
“Do not concede. It takes time for the army who is gathering for his back,” she added a day later.
The Independent has contacted Ms Thomas for comment.
Democratic lawmakers have called for Justice Thomas to recuse himself from cases related to the Capitol riot, with some suggesting he should be impeached.
“Clarence Thomas needs to be impeached,” Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar tweeted on Friday.
“In light of new reporting from numerous outlets, Justice Thomas’ conduct on the Supreme Court looks increasingly corrupt,” Oregon Senator Ron Wyden said in a statement.
The newly revealed texts are the latest in a growing body of scrutiny about Ms Thomas’s activism, given her personal ties to the Supreme Court.
In January, The New Yorker ran an exposé highlighting how Ms Thomas has held leadership positions in or partnered with conservative groups with business before the Supreme Court.
These groups were often involved in cases in the form of amicus curiae or “friend of the court” briefs submitted by outside groups offering their opinion of a pending case.
Justice Thomas did not recuse himself from these cases, and Ginni Thomas did not explicitly note her involvement with these groups, the New Yorker report notes.
While not technically running afoul of court rules, the conduct nonetheless is far outside of judicial conflict of interest norms.
After Ms Thomas lobbied the White House about the 2020 election, her husband ruled on a number of cases involving claims from Mr Trump and his Republican allies challenging the results. However, Mr Trump was never able to successfully alter the election results in the Supreme Court or in lawsuits in any state court across the country.
Ms Thomas has defended herself against accusations of improper ties to the Supreme Court and its decisions, telling the Washington Free Beacon in an interview this month, “Clarence doesn’t discuss his work with me, and I don’t involve him in my work.”
