WASHINGTON, June 16 (Reuters) – Virginia Ginny Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is eager to appear before a congressional committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, she told the Daily Caller News website on Thursday.
Thomas was responding to comments from the committee’s chairman, Democrat Benny Thompson, who suggested the committee would seek her testimony.
“I can’t wait to clear up the misconceptions. I look forward to talking to them,” Thomas told the Daily Caller.
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The Washington Post reported earlier this week that the commission received emails between Thomas and attorney John Eastman, who was involved in efforts to block the certification of President Joe Biden’s defeat of Donald Trump in the November 2020 election.
“It’s time to invite her to talk,” Thompson told reporters at the Capitol earlier Thursday.
Eastman said in a statement published in Substack that the emails received by the Post were “false allusions based on selective leaks” and were irrelevant to the committee’s hearings.
“I can definitely confirm that at no time have I discussed with Ms. Thomas or Judge Thomas any issues pending or likely to go to court,” Eastman said. “We have never participated in such discussions, we would not participate in such discussions and we did not do so in December 2020 or at any other time.”
Thomas’ comments were reported as the committee held a public hearing on the events of January 6, 2021 in the Capitol. Thompson said he first learned of her interest in participating in the investigation from a reporter when he left the hearing room.
“We look forward to coming,” Thompson said, adding that the commission had sent a letter to Thomas.
Thomas is active in conservative political circles and said she attended a Trump rally before the Capitol uprising. At the rally, Trump made a fiery speech, reiterating his baseless allegations that his electoral defeat was due to widespread fraud and urging his supporters to march against Congress.
Her political involvement raises questions about whether her husband should step down from the Trump and Capitol riots.
In January, her husband was the only dissenting vote when the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s request to block the publication of White House recordings requested by the commission on January 6. Read more
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Report by Patricia Zengerle; Additional reports by Catherine Jackson and Dan Whitcomb; Edited by Daniel Wallis and Stephen Coates
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