Update (6/16/22 12:45 p.m. EST): Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, said on Thursday, June 16, that the panel plans to invite Gini Thomas to be interviewed, per the Washington Post. Thomas wasn’t originally expected to be a focus of the public hearings. those involved in the investigation say the newly obtained email correspondence between her and White House lawyer John Eastman revealed that her efforts to overturn the 2020 election were “more extensive than previously known.”
Update (6/10/22 2:16 p.m. EST): Ginni Thomas was revealed to have sent messages out to 29 legislators in Arizona, asking them to overturn the 2020 election in favor of then-President Donald Trump, according to new findings by The Washington Post. The Supreme Court Justice’s wife used a platform to email representatives called “Free Roots” to share messages with lawmakers. The message asked for local politicians to watch a video and “consider what will happen to the nation we all love if you do not stand up and lead,” before choosing electors in the 2020 election. The request was asking local leaders to go over the popular vote and send electors that favored Trump instead.
Original: Ginni Thomas, 65, is an attorney and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. On Sept. 29, 2022, the Omaha, Nebraska-born conservative activist told the January 6 committee that she did not speak to her husband about the “legal challenges” regarding the 2020 election. “Regarding the 2020 election, I did not speak with him at all about the details of my volunteer campaign activities,” she said under oath in her opening statement obtained by CNN. “And I did not speak with him at all about the details of my post-election activities, which were minimal, in any event. I am certain I never spoke with him about any of the legal challenges to the 2020 election, as I was not involved with those challenges in any way.”
Her connections to the political world have begun to face scrutiny amid revelations she used her influence to encourage President Donald Trump’s administration in their efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Below are five things to know about the right-wing activist and her history.
1. Ginni urged the Trump administration to overturn the 2020 election
Texts between Ginni and Trump Chief Of Staff Mark Meadows emerged on Mar. 25, 2022, via the Washington Post and CBS News, revealing her personal efforts to try and get the 2020 election overturned. In the texts, just 32 of the 2,320 he provided to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, she told him, “Do not concede. It takes time for the army who is gathering for his back.”
She also appeared to push QAnon conspiracies in the texts, which referenced “Watermarked ballots”. The texts also show Ginni urged Trump’s Chief Of Staff to appoint Sidney Powell, a conspiracy theorist and lawyer, to head up Mr. Trump’s legal team.
2. She attended the Jan. 6 rally
Ginni confirmed she attended the Jan. 6, 2021 “Stop The Steal” rally in a Mar. 16, 2022 interview with the Washington Free Beacon. She claimed to have left before the Capital Riots, however.
3. Ginni is no stranger to controversy
Justice Thomas’ Super Court nomination was controversial from the start. During his 1991 confirmation hearings, he was confronted by sexual harassment allegations from lawyer Anita Hill. Ginni stood by her husband. Years later on October 9, 2010, Ginno left a voicemail message for Anita, demanding she apologize to Justice Thomas. Hill declined, explained there was nothing to apologize for as her accounts were truthful.
4. She’s held several influential positions
Ginni served in the Labor Department during George HW Bush’s administration and as an aide for Texas Representative Dick Armey. She went on to join The Heritage Foundation, a prominent right-wing think-tank. In late 2009, she started the nonprofit lobbying group Liberty Central.
5. Ginni says she & the Justice don’t talk about work
Ginni has insisted there are no ethical qualms about her and her husband’s work. “Like so many married couples, we share many of the same ideals, principles, and aspirations for America,” she told the Washington Free Beacon in 2019.
“But we have our own separate careers, and our own ideas and opinions too. Clarence doesn’t discuss his work with me, and I don’t involve him in my work.”