US Supreme Court justice’s wife questioned by January 6 panel | Election News

Virginia ‘Ginni’ Thomas, a conservative activist, meets with the committee investigating last year’s US Capitol riot.

Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has been interviewed by the January 6 committee investigating last year’s riot at the United States Capitol.

Thomas, a conservative activist, appeared on Capitol Hill on Thursday for a voluntary interview with the Congressional panelwhich has sought an interview with her for months.

Her lawyer said last week that Thomas was “eager to answer the committee’s questions to clear up any misconceptions about her work relating to the 2020 election”.

Thomas has said she attended a rally held by former President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021, during which he made an incendiary speech alleging widespread voter fraud shortly before a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol.

But she said she “played no role” in planning what happened that day, CNN reported earlier this year.

The January 6 panelwhich has interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses in its investigation into the riot in Washington, DC, had hoped to interview Thomas before wrapping up its work.

The Washington Post reported in March that Thomas “repeatedly pressed” former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in the weeks after the 2020 elections that Trump lost to President Joe Biden, urging him to continue to fight to overturn the results.

Trump’s legal team had filed a series of lawsuits seeking to invalidate the results on the basis of his false voter fraud claims – but several US courts rejected those allegations as unfounded.

The Post cited a November 10, 2020, text in which Thomas wrote to 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.”

In that same text, Thomas promoted Trump’s fraud allegationsstating that “Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History”.

The Associated Press news agency also obtained emails from Thomas urging two lawmakers in Arizona to choose “a clean slate of Electors” and “stand strong in the face of political and media pressure”.

Thomas has maintained that her political activities are not a conflict of interest her husband.

“Like so many married couples, we share many of the same ideals, principles, and aspirations for America. But we have our own separate careers, and our own ideas and opinions too. Clarence doesn’t discuss his work with me, and I don’t involve him in my work,” she told the Washington Free Beacon in March.

Her husband, Clarence Thomas, was the only member of the US Supreme Court to object to a ruling that allowed the January 6 panel access to presidential diaries, visitor logs, speech drafts and handwritten notes relating to the riot.

Thomas has been actively critical of the January 6 committee and signed a letter calling on House Republicans to expel Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for their involvement in the panel.

Thomas did not answer questions when she arrived for the interview with the panel on Thursday, the Reuters and Associated Press news agencies reported.

But she told reporters she was looking forward to answering questions from the members of the committee, the AP said.

The panel’s chairperson, Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, told reporters on Wednesday that Thomas would appear before the panel this week.

The committee was expected to hold a televised hearing that day, but it was postponed due to a massive storm, Hurricane Ianwhich has battered the state of Florida.