WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol will ask Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, for an interview, the panel’s chair said Thursday.
Thomas, a conservative activist, communicated with people in President Donald Trump’s orbit ahead of the attack and also on the day of the insurrection, when hundreds of Trump’s supporters violently stormed the Capitol and interrupted the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chair of the panel, said that “it’s time for her to come talk” to the committee after investigators discovered information that refers to Thomas — known as Ginni — in communications they have obtained relating to one of Trump’s lawyers, John Eastman. Eastman was advising Trump in the weeks and days ahead of the attack as the president pushed Vice President Mike Pence to try to object or delay Biden’s certification on Jan. 6.
Thompson didn’t specify a time or schedule for an interview. He said her name could also come up at some point in the panel’s hearings that are being held throughout June.
The emails between Eastman and Thomas were first reported by The Washington Post.
It is not the first time members of the panel have said they want to talk to Thomas. In March, lawmakers on the committee said they were considering inviting her for a witness interview about text messages with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on the day of the attack. But she still has not spoken to the panel.
Justice Thomas was the only member of the Supreme Court who voted against the court’s order allowing the Jan. 6 committee to obtain Trump records that were held by the National Archives and Records Administration. The court voted in January to allow the committee to get the documents.
The court on Thursday did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the justice.
Story by Mary Clare Jalonick and Farnoush Amiri. Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report.
