Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court judge Clarence Thomas, admitted that she was not aware of any specific evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 election at the time she personally lobbied senior White House officials to overturn the results.
In an interview with the House committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol, a transcript of which was released on Friday, Ms Thomas said that she “wasn’t very deep” in her knowledge of specific voter fraud allegations at the time of her lobbying effort, but instead “was basing what I believed off of people I trusted and news that I trusted."
The transcript provides new detail on how Ms Thomas used her access Donald Trump’s inner circle to influence the White House to reject the results of the presidential election.
In the aftermath of that election, Ms Thomas personally lobbied White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, according to text messages obtained by the committee and leaked to journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.
“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,” she wrote on November 10, after Joe Biden had been projected as the winner.
In an interview with the January 6 Committee, which took place on 29 September 2022, committee members repeatedly pressed Ms Thomas to reveal what evidence of election fraud had motivated her to approach Mr Meadows.
"I can’t say that I was familiar at the time with any specific evidence. I was just hearing it from news reports and friends on the ground, grassroots activists who were inside of various polling places that found things suspicious,” Ms Thomas said in response to a question from committee member Jamie Raskin about the most significant evidence she had seen.
Later asked by Republican committee member Liz Cheney to confirm that she had seen no list of fraud or irregularities, Ms Thomas replied: “Right. I know. I wasn’t very deep; I admit it.”
Ms Thomas’ lobbying effort raised concerns among Democrats about a conflict of interest in the Thomas household, as Justice Thomas may have been called upon to rule on cases involving the 2020 election — a matter on which his wife was a committed political activist.
In her opening statement to the committee ahead of her interview, Ms Thomas said the couple maintain an “ironclad” agreement to avoid discussing Supreme Court cases in their home.
“It is laughable for anyone who knows my husband to think I could influence his jurisprudence – the man is independent and stubborn, with strong character traits of independence and integrity,” the right-wing activist said.
In their interview, the committee asked Ms Thomas about an exchange with Mr Meadows in which she appears to suggest that she spoke with her husband, Justice Thomas, about the election.
The exchange began with a text from Ms Thomas to Mr Meadows on 24 November, 2021, that read: “I can’t see Americans swallowing the obvious fraud. Just going with one more thing with no frickin’ consequences... the whole coup and now this ... we just cave to people wanting Biden to be anointed? Many of us can’t continue the GOP charade.”
That same day, Mr Meadows texted her back: “This is a fight of good versus evil. Evil always looks like the victor until the King of Kings triumphs. Do not grow weary in well doing. The fight continues. I have staked my career on it. Well at least my time in DC on it.”
"Thank you. Needed that, this plus a conversation with my best friend just now. I will try to keep holding on," she replied.
Ms Thomas was asked whom she was referring to when she said she had spoken to her “best friend.”
"It looks like it was my husband," she told the committee.
She said she had “no memory of the specifics” of that conversation when asked, and added: “My husband often administers spousal support to the wife that's upset. So I assume that that's what it was.”
Ms Thomas said her husband did not know that she was in contact with Mr Meadows, and only found out when the text messages hit the newspapers.
“He had no idea that I was texting Mark Meadows about the election,” she told the committee.
Ms Thomas was further pressed to explain the thinking behind some of her texts to Mr Meadows. One of those texts, dated 10 January, 2021, read: “Most of us are disgusted with the VP and are in listening mode to see where to fight with our teams.”
“I believe, looking back, that I was frustrated that I thought Vice President Pence might concede earlier than what President Trump was inclined to do. And I wanted to hear Vice President Pence talk more about the fraud and irregularities in certain States that I thought was lingering,” she replied.
“And so I was frustrated with the Vice President for not sounding the same, in the same thematic way. I mean, I was just picking up things on the news media,” she added.
