The Jan. 6th select house committee has started contacting potential witnesses for the public hearings set to begin after Congress returns from Memorial Day recess. While the committee is interested in talking to members of former President Trump’s White House, Justice Department, and Vice President Mike Pence’s team, it is unlikely that they will call Ginni Thomas to testify, the Washington Post reports.
Committee staffers are still collecting evidence and wrapping up key depositions and interviews. Given this point, it might be a little confusing why they wouldn’t have Thomas speak on the record during a prime-time hearing. Just in the past few months, it was revealed that Thomas texted then chief-of-staff- Mark Meadows to overturn the 2020 election, attended the Jan. 6th rally, and attempted to get in the way of Arizona certifying results in favor of President Joe Biden.
Given the proximity to her husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, many would think this would be a key focus. However, the House panel has expressed concerns about allowing a focus on Thomas to divert attention from Trump, “according to people familiar with the committee’s discussions.”
“It might take the focus off of Trump — it could well trump the Trump story,” a person close to the investigation said.
“The committee isn’t prioritizing engagement with witnesses based on political considerations. These decisions are about what best advances the investigation as we prepare for hearings and develop our findings and recommendations,” a person familiar with the investigation said.
Other Democrats expressed concern about how such a move could influence Supreme Court decisions, but the conservative makeup of the court doesn’t favor the Democrats.
“Democrats in Congress are going to be in front of the Supreme Court for some time,” a second person close to the committee said. “Dragging Ginni in front of the committee would be a Pyrrhic victory.”
Despite the hesitancy, legal experts have spoken about the danger of letting people trying to change election results get away without repercussions –especially regarding the upcoming 2022 midterms and 2024 Presidential elections.
“We now have reason to think that [Ginni Thomas] was one of the people involved in the attempt to get phony slates of electors certified or submitted without anything other than fake certifications in the electoral college. That is a recipe for using the electoral college to steal the election from the voters themselves and calling it,” Harvard law professor emeritus Laurence Tribe said.