By FARNOUSH AMIRI and MICHAEL BALSAMO
WASHINGTON (AP) — Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the spouse of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, stood by the false declare that the 2020 election was fraudulent throughout an interview Thursday with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 rebel, the panel’s chairman stated.
“It’s a work in progress,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., instructed reporters after the greater than four-hour interview ended. “At this point, we’re glad she came.”
The committee — comprised of seven Democrats and two Republicans — has for months sought an interview with Thomas in an effort to know extra about her position in making an attempt to assist former President Donald Trump overturn his election defeat. The conservative activist texted with White House chief of employees Mark Meadows and contacted lawmakers in Arizona and Wisconsin within the weeks after the election.
Thomas answered among the questions from congressional investigators Thursday as she sought to painting herself as among the many many Americans who nonetheless imagine the baseless declare that the 2020 election was stolen, in accordance with an individual conversant in the investigation who was not licensed to debate it publicly.
But she didn’t present any proof or particular reasoning to again up her perception, the individual stated.
“As she has said from the outset, Mrs. Thomas had significant concerns about fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election,” Mark Paoletta, her legal professional, stated in a press release. “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,” he added.
The testimony from Thomas was one of many final remaining for the panel because it eyes the completion of its work. The panel has already interviewed greater than 1,000 witnesses and proven a few of that video testimony in its eight hearings over the summer season.
The extent of her involvement within the Capitol assault is unclear. In the times after The Associated Press and different information organizations known as the presidential election for Biden, Thomas emailed two lawmakers in Arizona to induce them to decide on “a clean slate of Electors” and “stand strong in the face of political and media pressure.” The AP obtained the emails earlier this yr beneath the state’s open data regulation.
She has stated in earlier interviews that she attended the preliminary pro-Trump rally the morning of Jan. 6 however left earlier than Trump spoke and the crowds headed for the Capitol.
Thomas, a Trump supporter lengthy energetic in conservative causes, has repeatedly maintained that her political actions posed no battle of curiosity with the work of 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,” Thomas instructed the Washington Free Beacon in an interview revealed in March.
Justice Thomas was the lone dissenting voice when the Supreme Court dominated in January to permit a congressional committee entry to presidential diaries, customer logs, speech drafts and handwritten notes referring to the occasions of Jan. 6.
Ginni Thomas has been brazenly important of the committee’s work, together with signing onto a letter to House Republicans calling for the expulsion of Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois from the GOP convention for becoming a member of the Jan. 6 congressional committee.
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Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Lisa Mascaro and Eric Tucker and video journalist Rick Gentilo contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s protection of the Jan. 6 rebel at https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege
Source: www.bostonherald.com”