Head of Congress' Jan. 6 committee says time to invite Ginni Thomas to talk

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The head of the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol said on Thursday he felt that Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, should be invited to speak to the panel.

The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the committee had obtained 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.

The emails showed that Thomas' efforts to overturn the election were more extensive than previously known, the Post said.

"It's time for us to invite her to come talk," Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, chairperson of the House of Representatives Select Committee investigating the attack, told reporters at the Capitol.

Committee spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment about any plans by the panel to speak to Virginia Thomas. Thomas could not immediately be reached for comment.

Virginia Thomas is active in conservative political circles and said she attended a rally Trump held before the Capitol riot. At the rally, Trump made a fiery speech repeating his unfounded allegations that his election defeat was due to widespread fraud and urged his supporters to march on Congress.

Mrs. Thomas' political involvement has raised questions about whether her husband should recuse himself from cases involving Trump and the Capitol riot.

In January, her husband was the lone dissenting voice when the Supreme Court rejected Trump's request to block the release of White House records sought by the Jan. 6 committee.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Alistair Bell)

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