Last week, Virginia ‘Ginni” Thomas stated “she looked forward to talking” to the Jan. 6th House select committee to “clear up misconceptions.” Now, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has appeared to change her mind. As CBS News reports, Thomas’s lawyer Mark Paoletta sent a letter to the committee to gain “a better justification for why Mrs. Thomas’s testimony is relevant’ before recommending his client sit down for an interview.
“It is in this context that Mrs. Thomas has expressed a willingness to try to come before the committee as a means of clearing her name,” Paoletta reportedly wrote. “But, based on my understanding of the facts the committee has in its possession, I do not believe there is currently a sufficient basis to speak with Mrs. Thomas.”
Well, there are many reasons, but Paoletta knows this to be the case. Ginni Thomas texted then-White House chief-of-staff Mark Meadows to pursue overturning the 2020 Presidential election. She also pushed 29 Arizona electors to flip their votes in favor of former President Trump and corresponded with former Trump lawyer John Eastman.
Eastman is said to have pressured former Vice President Mike Pence to reject and replace electors. Politico notes that Ginni Thomas asked Eastman to speak to a group of activists. Paoletta said in his letter to the house committee the arrangement was “not an endorsement of the speaker’s views, nor is it any indication of a working relationship between the speaker and Mrs. Thomas. In fact, Mrs. Thomas often does not share the views of those invited leaders or activists.”
Given all of these things that have come out and the proximity of her husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who is hellbent on undoing precedent, there’s a lot to talk about. Paoletta also noted that this is a stressful time for the Thomas family.
“I would also note that this has been a particularly stressful time as the Thomases have been subjected to an avalanche of death threats and other abuse by the unprecedented assault on the conservative Supreme Court Justices and their families,”
Even with all of these questions, Paoletta claims there’s no “sufficient basis” for Thomas to speak. Thomas’s hesitation has led to people calling for the house committee to subpoena and compel her to testify.