Jan. 6 Panel Member: Ginni Thomas Testimony Might Not Be Needed (Newsmax)
By Charlie McCarthy | Monday, 10 October 2022 01:03 PM EDT
There's no guarantee testimony from Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, will be presented at the next public hearing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's partisan Jan. 6 panel, one committee member said.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., a member of the select committee investigating events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, said Sunday that the panel might not feature testimony from Ginni Thomas at Thursday's hearing, and added that she did not consider the justice's wife "a key figure."
"We may," Lofgren told MSNBC Sunday when asked if Ginni Thomas' testimony would be featured at the hearing.
The ambiguous response came after the panel — comprised of Democrats and two anti-Trump Republicans — interviewed Ginni Thomas on Sept. 29 after the committee sought an interview for months.
Lofgren said Thomas' interview was not videotaped, as were interviews with some other witnesses in previous hearings. Any featured testimony from Thomas, therefore, would be shown through a transcript.
"It was just the agreement reached with her, and I think it was suitable from all sides," Lofgren told MSNBC.
Lofgren said the committee's interview with Thomas was "lengthy."
"I don't think she was a key figure necessarily; she had very mistaken views," Lofgren said. "We all know that there is no evidence of massive fraud in the election.
"But she has a belief system that she apparently still holds, although she did also express some doubts during the interview. So it was important that we talk to her because of the email exchanges, but I don't think she was a major player in this, personally."
The committee sought to interview Ginni Thomas to investigate her role in trying to help former President Donald Trump overturn his election defeat. She texted with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and contacted lawmakers in Arizona and Wisconsin in the weeks after the election.
She reportedly also exchanged emails with John Eastman, a lawyer who had advised then-President Trump on attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Ginni Thomas in June told the Daily Caller that she "can't wait to clear up misconceptions" if called on to provide testimony before the House committee.
Democrats have called on Justice Thomas to recuse himself from any cases connected with Jan. 6 due to his wife's alleged actions.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.