March 28 (UPI) — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol is set to seek an interview with Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, a conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Members of the select committee, including Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., have held internal discussions supporting interviewing Ginni Thomas regarding a series of 29 text messages in which she urged then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to continue efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, CNN and The Washington Post reported.
Ginni Thomas recently said she attended the rally in support of former President Donald Trump that preceded the riots at the Capitol, but said she “played no role” in planning the events that took place that day.
In the text messages obtained by the committee, she urged Meadows to employ lawyer Sidney Powell as “the lead and the face” of Trump’s legal team.
She also references a conversation with her “best friend” that she and Clarence Thomas have been known to publicly call each other.
Congressional Democrats have said that Clarence Thomas should be removed from the Supreme Court or recuse himself from cases involving claims of fraud in the 2020 election in light of the text messages.
“Judges are obligated to recuse themselves when their participation in a case would create even the appearance of a conflict of interest. A person with an ounce of commonsense could see that the bar is met here,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said last week, adding that “Thomas’ conduct on the Supreme Court looks increasingly corrupt.”
Republicans, however, have stood behind Clarence Thomas and opposed calls that he recuse himself.
“I think Justice Thomas can make his decisions like he’s made them every other time. It’s his decision based upon law,” said House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., praised Clarence Thomas as a “great American and an outstanding Justice.”
I have total confidence in his brilliance and impartiality in every aspect of the work of the Court,” he said.