By FARNOUSH AMIRI and MICHAEL BALSAMO
WASHINGTON (AP) — Virginia Ginny Thomas, the spouse of Supreme Courtroom Justice Clarence Thomas, supported the false declare that the 2020 election was fraudulent in an interview Thursday with the Home committee investigating the Jan. 6 rebellion, the panel’s chairman mentioned. .
“It is a work in progress,” Rep. Benny Thompson, D-Miss., advised reporters after greater than 4 hours of interviews. “Proper now we’re glad she got here.”
The committee, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, has sought an interview with Thomas for months to study extra about her function in attempting to assist former President Donald Trump overturn his election defeat. The conservative activist texted White Home Chief of Workers Mark Meadows and contacted lawmakers in Arizona and Wisconsin within the weeks after the election.
Thomas answered some questions from congressional investigators on Thursday in an effort to painting herself as among the many many People who nonetheless consider the baseless declare that the 2020 election was stolen, mentioned an individual aware of the investigation who was not licensed to debate it publicly. .
However she didn’t present any proof or concrete arguments to assist her perception, the particular person mentioned.
“As she has mentioned from the start, Ms. Thomas had critical issues about fraud and irregularities within the 2020 election,” her legal professional, Mark Paoletta, mentioned in an announcement. “And as she advised the committee, her minimal and foremost exercise was to make sure that studies of fraud and wrongdoing had been investigated.”
“Moreover, she performed no function in any occasions after the 2020 election outcomes,” he added.
Thomas’ testimony was one of many final remaining for the fee because it appears to be like to finish its work. The panel has already interviewed greater than 1,000 witnesses and proven a few of that video testimony at its eight hearings over the summer season.
Her involvement within the assault on the Capitol is unclear. Days after the Related Press and different information organizations introduced Biden’s presidential bid, Thomas emailed two Arizona lawmakers to induce them to decide on a “clear slate” and “stand agency within the face of political and media strain.” The AP obtained the emails earlier this 12 months underneath the state’s open information regulation.
She has mentioned in earlier interviews that she attended the preliminary pro-Trump rally on the morning of Jan. 6, however left earlier than Trump spoke and the gang headed to the Capitol.
Thomas, a Trump supporter who has lengthy been lively in conservative causes, has repeatedly maintained that her political actions didn’t create a battle of curiosity along with her husband’s work.
“Like many married {couples}, we share the identical beliefs, rules and aspirations for America. However we now have our personal separate careers and our personal concepts and opinions. Clarence does not talk about his work with me and I do not contain him in my work,” Thomas advised the Washington Free Beacon in an interview revealed in March.
Justice Thomas was the lone dissenting voice when the Supreme Courtroom dominated in January to permit a congressional committee entry to the president’s diaries, customer logs, speech drafts and handwritten notes associated to the occasions of January 6.
Ginny Thomas has been an outspoken critic of the committee’s work, together with signing a letter to Home Republicans calling for Reps. Lisa Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois to be expelled from the GOP convention for becoming a member of the Jan. 6 congressional committee.
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Related Press writers Mary Claire Jalonic, Lisa Mascaro and Eric Tucker and videographer Rick Gentillo contributed to this report.
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Observe AP’s protection of the January 6 rebellion at https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege
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