Conservative activist Ginni Thomas and January 6 committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi.
AP Photos/Susan Walsh and J. Scott Applewhite
Ginni Thomas told January 6 investigators that she still believes the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Committee chair Bennie Thompson told CNN about Thomas’ comments during a closed-door interview.
Her interview could become part of the next hearing “if there’s something of merit,” he told CNN.
Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, told the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection that she still believes the 2020 presidential election was stolen, despite a lack of evidence to support that claim.
That’s according to CNN reporter Annie Grayer, who spoke with Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat who chairs the committee leading the probe into the attack on the US Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
“Yes,” he told CNN after Thomas testified for about four and a half hours. “She said that.”
Thompson told Grayer that Thomas answered “some questions” and that her interview could become part of the next hearing “if there’s something of merit.” The committee postponed a hearing scheduled for September 28 because of Hurricane Ian in Florida and it has not released a new date.
—Annie Grayer (@AnnieGrayerCNN) September 29, 2022
The interview with Thomas, a conservative activist, follows reporting by The Washington Post in March about text messages she wrote to Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows .
Biden already had been declared president-elect on November 10 when Thomas texted Meadows: “Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!!…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.”
Thomas also emailed Arizona lawmakers days after the 2020 election, urging them to “do your constitutional duty” and appoint “a clean slate of Electors” for the state, the Post reported.
Thomas’ lawyer Mark Paoletta said that Thomas answered all the committee’s questions and she “was happy to cooperate … to clear up the misconceptions about her activities surrounding the 2020 elections,” according to a statement New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman posted on Twitter.
“As she said from the outset, Mrs. Thomas had significant concerns about fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election,” he said. “And, as she told the committee, her minimal and mainstream activity focused on ensuring that reports of fraud and irregularities were investigated. Beyond that, she played no role in any events after the 2020 election results.
Paoletta continued, “As she wrote in a text to Mark Meadows at the time, she also condemned the violence on January 6, as she abhors violence on any side of the aisle.”
—Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 29, 2022