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Calls for the House January 6th committee to subpoena Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, have been ramping up after her lawyer told the panel she would not testify at the hearings.
The committee has asked Thomas to voluntary testify about her role in the illegal plot to overturn the 2020 election after it emerged the conservative activist pushed election fraud conspiracy theories in dozens of text messages with ex-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the run-up and day of the insurrection at the Capitol.
But her lawyer, Mark Paoletta, responded to the committee by insisting there was not a ‘sufficient basis’ for Thomas to testify, according to a letter obtained by the New York Times.
Thomas repeatedly texted with Meadows and urged him to press on with Trump’s election overturn effort. This included a Nov. 10th text where she called Joe Biden’s election win ‘the greatest Heist of our History.’
Along with emailing Arizona officials, Thomas, who attended a rally Trump held just before the Capitol riot, also had written emails to John Eastman, the lawyer who played a key role on behalf of Trump in efforts to pressure Mike Pence to overturn the election.
Calls for the House January 6th committee to subpoena Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (pictured together in October 2021), have been ramping up after her lawyer told the panel she would not testify at the hearings
The committee has asked Thomas to voluntary testify about her role in the illegal plot to overturn the 2020 election after it emerged the conservative activist pushed election fraud conspiracy theories in dozens of text messages with ex-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (pictured) in the run-up and day of the insurrection at the Capitol
Demonstrators steal a Metropolitan Police riot shield outside the U.S. Capitol building on Jan.6 2021 during the riot
Thomas has previously said she ‘can’t wait to clear up misconceptions,’ suggesting she would comply with the panel’s request to testify.
But Paoletta wrote in the letter, obtained by the New York Times, that Thomas will not testify because the communications between his client and Eastman do not show ‘any coordination’ between them. But he added Thomas is still interested in ‘clearing her name’.
‘It is in this context that Mrs. Thomas has expressed a willingness to try to come before the committee as a means of clearing her name,’ Paoletta wrote.
‘But, based on my understanding of the facts the committee has in its possession, I do not believe there is currently a sufficient basis to speak with Mrs. Thomas.’
Virginia ‘Ginni’ Thomas echoed QAnon conspiracy theories and tore into GOP lawmakers who did not support Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election in at least 29 text messages to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, a new report reveals
News of the letter from Paeletta renewed calls for the committee to subpoena Thomas.
‘Ginni Thomas isn’t just a key player in the January 6 timeline, she’s one of *the* most significant players,’ tweeted author Seth Abramson.
‘She’s desperate to stall Congress for seven months—after which she anticipates the House January 6 Committee will be disbanded by Rep. McCarthy. Subpoena her *today*.’
‘Only by issuing a subpoena to Ginni Thomas *now* does Congress have a chance of being able to work through her inevitable legal challenges and refer her to DOJ for a Criminal Contempt indictment *before* a possible handover of Congress to the insurrectionists in early 2023,’ he added.
Democratic pollster and strategist Matt McDermott tweeted: ‘There is absolutely no reason why the House should not immediately subpoena Ginni Thomas and compel her testimony. No one is above the law.’
In a series of 29 messages to Meadows following Trump’s loss, Thomas repeatedly asked Meadows to work to overturn the election results.
SEEKING INTERVIEW: The House Jan. 6th Committee wants to talk with conservative activist Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas
The texts, which may not represent the entire universe of her communications with Meadows, show Ginni Thomas to be embracing hard-line tactics and conspiracy theories, and boosting the ‘Kraken’ lawsuits claiming election fraud that were tossed out of court.
‘Mark (don’t want to wake you) … Sounds like Sidney and her team are getting inundated with evidence of fraud. Make a plan. Release the Kraken and save us from the left taking America down,’ she wrote in one Nov. 19th, 2020 message, in reference to lawyer Sidney Powell.
The texts suggest Thomas even had a hand in crafting Powell’s message — and that she pushed that message to more members of the Trump White House than just Meadows.
‘Just forwarded to yr gmail an email I sent Jared this am. Sidney Powell & improved coordination now will help the cavalry come and Fraud exposed and America saved,’ Thomas reportedly wrote to Meadows on November 13.
That could be a reference to Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Powell had been one of the first lawyers on the forefront of promoting Trump’s election fraud theories. However her wild claims and insistence on repeating them made her a polarizing figure that even led ex-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to distance himself.
Justice Thomas with his wife Virginia Thomas
Thomas has long played a role in conservative politics, having had a hand in scouting people for potential roles in George W. Bush’s administration when she worked at the Heritage Foundation.
At the time her husband, Clarence Thomas, was presiding over the landmark Bush v. Gore case that would see the contested 2000 election won by the Republican.
But the messages indicate that the Supreme Court justice spouse’s beliefs went further than the traditional realms of right-wing politics and that she’s even promoted the work of a Sandy Hook shooting denier to the upper echelons of the White House.
Two days after the November election, Thomas reportedly sent Meadows a YouTube video titled ‘TRUMP STING w CIA Director Steve Pieczenik, The Biggest Election Story in History, QFS-BLOCKCHAIN.’
‘I hope this is true; never heard anything like this before, or even a hint of it. Possible???’ she wrote along with the video.
Pieczenik is a former State Department official who said the 2012 slaughter of 26 people including 20 young children in Connecticut was a ‘false flag.’
Thomas then appeared to push a QAnon theory that Trump had somehow added watermarks to mail-in ballots to track fraud.
‘Watermarked ballots in over 12 states have been part of a huge Trump & military white hat sting operation in 12 key battleground states,’ Thomas wrote to Meadows.
She also said: ‘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.’
On November 6, Thomas added: ‘Do not concede. It takes time for the army who is gathering for his back.’
She asked Meadows to ‘Help This Great President stand firm’ on November 10 and mentioned ‘the greatest Heist of our History.’
It was three days after Joe Biden was declared president.
The next message reportedly urged Meadows to listen to the opinions of conservative talk radio hosts Dan Bongino, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Steyn.
Meadows replied: ‘I will stand firm. We will fight until there is no fight left. Our country is too precious to give up on. Thanks for all you do.’
The pair are reportedly longtime friends. Before joining the Trump White House, Meadows was a Republican House representative from North Carolina and a founding member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
Thomas, apparently touched, told Meadows: ‘Tearing up and praying for you guys!!!!! So proud to know you!!’
She also took aim at Republican lawmakers who refused to support Trump, as evidenced by a message seemingly referencing GOP Reps. Louie Gohmert of Texas, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Paul A. Gosar of Arizona and Chip Roy of Texas.
‘House and Senate guys are pathetic too… only 4 GOP House members seen out in street rallies with grassroots… Gohmert, Jordan, Gosar, and Roy,’ Thomas allegedly wrote.
‘Where the heck are all those who benefited by Presidents coattails?!!!’ she added that same day.
In a November 24 message, Meadows apparently uses a Biblical reference of a battle between ‘good versus evil’ to describe Trump’s battle to overturn Biden’s electoral victory.
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