Jan. 6 committee wants to hear from Ginni Thomas after email revelations

An avid Trump backer, she is the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

ByKatherine Faulders
June 16, 2022, 7:07 PM

Chairman Bennie Thompson told reporters Thursday that the Jan. 6 committee will "soon" invite Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and an avid Trump supporter, to speak with the panel.

"We think it's time that we would, at some point, invite her to come talk to the committee," Thompson said in the wake of revelations about emails that sources said she exchanged with right-wing lawyer John Eastman, a former clerk to Justice Thomas.

The committee has said Eastman was the mastermind behind the legal scheme to fraudulently overturn the election, in part by pressuring then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject some states' legitimate electoral votes on Jan. 6 when Congress met to certify the election results.

PHOTO: Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Oxon Hill, Md., Feb. 23, 2017.
Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Oxon Hill, Md., Feb. 23, 2017.
Susan Walsh/AP, FILE

Thompson didn't give any details about public or private testimony and when the committee would make a formal invitation.

An aide to Jan. 6 committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney said she agrees it is time to formally ask Ginni Thomas to speak with the committee.

It is still unclear when the committee would ask Thomas to come and in what form they would request to speak with her.

ABC News has reached out to her lawyer for comment.

Thomas told the Daily Caller, "I can't wait to clear up misconceptions. I look forward to talking to them."

Eastman responded in a blog post, saying, "at no time did I discuss with Mrs. Thomas or Justice Thomas any matters pending or likely to come before the Court."

Sources confirmed to ABC News on Wednesday that the committee has come into possession of emails between Eastman and Ginni Thomas.

PHOTO: In this March 16, 2017, file photo, Chapman School of Law professor John Eastman testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
In this March 16, 2017, file photo, Chapman School of Law professor John Eastman testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., at a House Justice subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet hearing on restructuring the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Susan Walsh/AP, FILE

The existence of the emails was first reported by the Washington Post.

It's unclear what the communications between Eastman and Ginni Thomas say, but Eastman has fought the committee's document requests in court.

A federal judge has ruled twice that he must turn some of these documents over and the committee has just recently begun receiving the second tranche of them.

Investigators are discussing next steps and deciding how much of a focus they should put on Thomas and her communications with people like Eastman and former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows during its public hearings.

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