Ginni Thomas told the Jan. 6 committee she 'regret' texting Mark Meadows about a 'coup' and pushing Sidney Powell's 'Kraken' plan
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
- Virginia "Ginni" Thomas she regrets her text messages and posts sent in the wake of the 2020 election.
- The wife of Clarence Thomas said she was unclear what she meant when she warned Mark Meadows of a "coup."
- Ginni Thomas, 65, said the time after the election was an "emotional time" for her.
Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, told the January 6 committee that she regretted her post-2020 election texts and statements that warned of Democrats trying to steal the election, messages that sparked outrage and questions of Thomas' standing on the court.
"I regret all of these texts," Thomas, who goes by Ginni, told the panel during a closed-door deposition in September. The transcript of her testimony was released on Friday morning.
Thomas, who is 65, repeated multiple times that she regret words when she was "clearly emotional" as she traded messages with then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
"It was an emotional time. I was probably just emoting, as I clearly was with Mark Meadows somewhat," Thomas said when asked of her conversations with another top Trump aide.
Among the things Thomas wrote were her frustration about the "whole coup," initial support for Sidney Powell, a later embattled Trump lawyer who promised for months to "release the Kraken" of supposed evidence of widespread voter fraud, and criticism of Vice President Mike Pence sent after the January 6 Capitol riot. (Thomas told the panel she was unclear what she meant by a "coup.")
Thomas also repeated her public claims that there is a "wall" between her conservative activism and Thomas' work on the nation's highest court in the land. She repeatedly denied discussing any of the post-2020 election cases with her husband. Thomas claimed that the most senior justice on the court is simply "uninterested in politics."
The closest Ginni Thomas came to acknowledging any political conversation with Justice Thomas was a reference to her "best friend" bucking her up on November 24th. Thomas had just texted Meadows that she was considering leaving politics "if you all cave to the elites."
"I wish I could remember, but I have no memory of the specifics," Thomas told the panel of the conversation with her husband. "My husband often administers spousal support to the wife that's upset. So I assume that that's what it was."
The Washington Post and CBS' publication of Ginni Thomas' texts with Meadows in March caused a public firestorm, especially among Democrats. Multiple Democratic lawmakers called on Thomas to recuse himself from cases related to January 6 after the texts came to light.
Thomas also discussed in greater detail with the panel her attendance at the January 6 rally where President Donald Trump spoke before the Capitol riot began. Thomas said she traveled from her Virginia home and "left when I got cold." She wasn't even sure if she stayed for Trump's now infamous speech.
Asked about her views on the election in retrospect, Thomas said that Joe Biden is the president. But despite repeated questioning from Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, Thomas refused to concede her view that widespread fraud tainted the outcome. Multiple Republicans, including then-Attorney General Bill Barr, have said that widespread fraud did not alter the 2020 presidential election.
"I worried that there was fraud and irregularities that distorted the election but it wasn't uncovered in a timely manner, so we have President Biden," Thomas told the panel at another point during her interview.
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/HQaAw85
Comments
Post a Comment