The House Jan. 6 panel is ready to “contemplate a subpoena” for Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, if she refuses to answer questions about her activities in the plot to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said Sunday.
Committee members are currently talking to Thomas’ attorney, Cheney told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“We certainly hope that she will agree to come in voluntarily, but the committee is fully prepared to contemplate a subpoena if she does not. I hope it doesn’t get to that,” said Cheney, who is vice chair of the panel. “It’s very important for us to speak with her.”
The committee has asked the rightwing political activist to meet with panel members, as well as provide documents that may be relevant to the investigation into last year’s insurrection.
Those documents include texts from Thomas urging Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to continue the battle to overturn election results, texts and emails to Trump ally attorney John Eastman, author of the so-called “coup memo,” on how to upend the vote.
“Help This Great President stand firm, Mark,” Thomas wrote Meadows days after the 2020 election. “The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History.”
Thomas also sent emails to Arizona lawmakers to urge them to choose “a clean slate” of fake Electors in a bid to toss out Joe Biden’s election victory.
A lawyer for Thomas said in a letter to the House select committee late last month that he “does not believe there is currently a sufficient basis to speak with” Thomas. “There is no story to uncover here,” attorney Mark Paoletta flatly insisted.
Paoletta sent the letter just two weeks after Thomas had said she was “looking forward” to talk to the committee to “clear up misconceptions” about her activities. Thomas has previously said she was at the Trump rally that preceded the Capitol attack but had no role in organizing it and left early.
Critics have called on Clarence Thomas to step down from the court, or at the very least, recuse himself from Jan. 6 cases, accusing him of a significant conflict of interest in making decisions for a government his wife has battled to undermine.
“Clarence and Ginni Thomas have participated in one of the worst breaches of trust ever seen in our court system,” Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) said in a statement last month calling on Justice Thomas to resign, referring to efforts to keep Donald Trump in power despite his defeat in a democratic election.
Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on Justice Thomas in March to recuse himself from cases in light of “serious questions” about Ginni Thomas’ possible links to the “planning and execution of the insurrection.”
Justice Thomas took part in cases relating to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, and was the lone dissenting vote in a decision against claims of executive privilege by Trump and his aides concerning documents linked to the Capitol riot that were sought by the House panel.
In other startling news Sunday, Cheney — whose reelection is in trouble in the face of attacks by Trump and his allies — said she hasn’t yet made up her mind about making a run for the presidency.
“At this point, I haven’t made a decision on 2024 …. I’ll make a decision on 2024 down the road,” Cheney said, adding that she is focused on her work with the committee.
