The Jan 6 committee isn’t planning on taking “no” for an answer from Ginni Thomas, the conservative activist whose role in trying to help Donald Trump overturn the election has come into new focus in recent weeks thanks in no small part due to her marriage to a Supreme Court justice.
Congresswoman Liz Cheney indicated in an interview on Sunday that the select committee’s members were prepared to subpoena Ms Thomas should she continue to refuse to testify about her role in the Trump campaign’s bid to “decertify” electors in key battleground states over baseless claimes of fraud.
The panel is no stranger to issuing subpoenas to compel the testimony of Mr Trump’s allies and this week saw his former White House chief strategist convicted on a charge of criminal contempt for defying their order. Ms Thomas’s targeting would be significant, however, given that her husband Clarence Thomas has come under tough criticism as her role in the January 6 plot emerged given his involvement in ruling on a case determining whether White House communications should be turned over to the panel; Mr Thomas was the only dissenting vote.
"The committee is fully prepared to contemplate a subpoena [for Ms Thomas],” Ms Cheney told CNN’s State of the Union hosted by Jake Tapper on Sunday.
“I hope it doesn’t get to that, I hope she does come in voluntarily, we’ve certainly spoken with numbers of people who are similarly situated in terms of the discussions she was having,” the congresswoman continued.
The panel concluded a set of public hearings this week that were punctuated by shocking and angering revelations about the Trump team’s knowledge of both the baselessness of their fraud claims as well as the likelihood that violence would break out on Jan 6 as a result of their actions. Chairman Bennie Thompson and Ms Cheney confirmed during their final hearing Thursday evening that a second set of public hearings based on new evidence that they were continuing to gather would take place in September.
The announcement means that Republicans can expect another round of brutal inquiry into the former president’s actions as well as those of some of their own members in the House and Senate beginning just two months before voters head to the polls for the midterm elections.
