Ginni Thomas Might Get a Jan. 6 Subpoena: 'Hope It Doesn't Get to That'
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Ginni Thomas
The bipartisan committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riots wants to talk to Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — and they are willing to subpoena her, if necessary.
Speaking to CNN's Jake Tapper on State of the Union Sunday, committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney said: "The committee is engaged with her counsel, we certainly hope that she will agree to come in voluntarily, but the committee is fully prepared to contemplate a subpoena. If she does not, I hope it doesn't get to that. I hope she will come in voluntarily."
Cheney's remarks were echoed by another committee member, Rep. Adam Schiff, who told CBS News' Face the Nation that same day that if Thomas "has relevant information ... we hope she comes in voluntarily. But if she doesn't, then we should give [a subpoena] a serious consideration."
RELATED: Justice Clarence Thomas' Wife Was at Jan. 6 Trump Rally but Says She 'Played No Role' in Riots
Those comments come in light of recent reports that Thomas, 65, urged then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to overturn the results of the 2020 election — and that she pressured Republican lawmakers in Arizona to choose their own electors, a responsibility that state law puts in the hands of voters.
Outlets including The Washington Post and CBS News reported earlier that the committee had obtained 29 texts sent between Nov. 5, 2020, and Jan. 10, 2021, in which Thomas urged Meadows, 62, to do what he could to keep Trump in power, despite Biden's win.
On Nov. 5, 2020 — two days after the election — Thomas sent Meadows a message reading, "Biden crime family & ballot fraud co-conspirators (elected officials, bureaucrats, social media censorship mongers, fake stream media reporters, etc) are being arrested & detained for ballot fraud right now & over coming days, & will be living in barges off GITMO to face military tribunals for sedition."
She followed up her message with another text sent Nov. 6, which read, "Do not concede. It takes time for the army who is gathering for his back."
In another message sent to Meadows on Nov. 10 — when Biden, 79, was predicted to win the presidency — Thomas claimed he was attempting to pull off a "heist."
Thomas' inquiries about altering the outcome of the election didn't stop there.
According to emails obtained by The Washington Post, Thomas "pressed 29 Republican state lawmakers in Arizona — 27 more than previously known — to set aside Joe Biden's popular vote victory and 'choose' presidential electors."
The Post reports that on Nov. 9, Thomas "sent identical emails to 20 members of the Arizona House and seven Arizona state senators" — more than half of the Republican members of the state legislature. In her message, Thomas told lawmakers to "stand strong in the face of political and media pressure" and "ensure that a clean slate of Electors is chosen."
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She sent another email — this one to 22 members of the House and one senator — on Dec. 13, one day before the Electoral College was set to seal Biden's victory. "Before you choose your state's Electors, I ask you to do two things," she wrote, asking them to watch a YouTube video that shows a man urging lawmakers to "not give in to cowardice."
Elsewhere in that email, she told the lawmakers to "please consider what will happen to the nation we all love if you do not stand up and lead."
In a March interview with The Washington Free Beacon, Thomas said she attended the rally Trump spoke at on the morning of Jan. 6, but insisted she "played no role with those who were planning and leading the Jan. 6 events."
