Ginni Thomas gives interview to Jan. 6 panel

Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, gave a voluntary interview with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. 

The interview with Thomas caps a months-long effort by the committee to speak with the conservative activist, who reportedly exchanged emails with John Eastman, the lawyer who drafted memos for the Trump campaign outlining how then-Vice President Mike Pence could keep then-President Trump in power, as well as with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Thomas's attorney, Mark Paoletta, said last week that Thomas had agreed to meet with the panel and is “eager to answer the committee’s questions to clear up any misconceptions about her work relating to the 2020 election.” 

Thomas herself also told The Daily Caller in June that she was willing to speak with the panel and “clear up misconceptions,” though she did not detail what those might be. Still, later that month her attorney said he needed "a better justification for why Mrs. Thomas’s testimony is relevant to the committee’s legislative purpose.”

Paoletta did not respond to request for comment on Thursday.

Pressed in a Sunday interview on CNN on what the committee is hoping to hear from Thomas, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a member of the panel, pointed to her communications with Eastman.

“I don’t know what her answers will be, but clearly there were emails between her and Dr. Eastman that we’d like to explore with her. And she said publicly that she’ll come in and everything will be clear, so we hope that’s the case,” she said.

The release of text messages with Meadows show Thomas was engaging with the White House and encouraging efforts to keep Trump in power.

“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,” Thomas texted to Meadows a week after the election. 

Thomas’s activism has led to calls for Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from any cases with a nexus to Jan. 6.

Ginni Thomas’s interview comes as the committee delayed what could be its final public hearing due to Hurricane Ian.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.