It’s going to be a long weekend for Ginni Thomas.
The right-wing activist and Q-Anon conspiracy theory-spouting wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is reportedly on the cusp of receiving a subpoena from Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, CBS reported Friday.
Revelations about her strident efforts to have the 2020 election certification delayed or stopped were made known only 24 hours ago in the wake of a report first published by The Washington Post. Some 29 text messages—and others are expected to exist—were exposed in that report, showing how Thomas plied former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows with debunked election fraud claims and fervent pleas to keep Trump in office.
[Related: Ginni Thomas wanted to overturn the election]
Robert Costa at CBS reported Friday that “at least two members of the January 6 Committee are now telling colleagues […] in private conversations, that they need to invite Ginni Thomas to come talk, and issue a subpoena if necessary.”
The Jan. 6 committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Daily Kos on Friday. Historically, the committee keeps mum on these matters officially and declines to discuss the nature of who it subpoenas or when.
According to Costa, a decision on whether to subpoena Ginni Thomas could be reached when the committee meets on Monday at 7:30 PM ET, but talks are still ongoing. At least two committee members, he said, “firmly believe” the committee should act.
The panel meets Monday to vote on a criminal contempt of Congress referral for former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro and former White House communications director Dan Scavino. Both of the officials have refused to cooperate for months after being subpoenaed.
Related: Criminal contempt of Congress charges on deck for Trump lackeys pushing election fraud lies
At least two of the committee members “firmly believe” the committee should act, but talks are ongoing.
Blowback is mounting swiftly in many circles around Justice Thomas. But House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy was unbothered by this week’s reporting when facing questions from the press at a GOP retreat in Florida.
When asked whether the justice should be forced to recuse himself from any cases related to Jan. 6, McCarthy said: “I think Justice Thomas could make his decisions like he's made him every other time. It's his decision based upon law.”
Justice Thomas has never recused himself from a case where his wife’s politics may have overlapped.
Ginni Thomas is well-ensconced in right-wing and Republican activism in Washington, D.C. and while her text messages have revealed new depths to her advocacy around the push to keep Trump in office, her track record of striking out at the committee investigating the attempted overthrow is known.
On Dec. 15, she signed off on a public letter from the Conservative Action Project that called on Jan. 6 Committee members Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger to be exiled from the House Republican Conference. As the sole Republicans on the panel, their participation was deemed a betrayal.
[Related: House Republicans vote a defiant Liz Cheney out of leadership]
A month later, Justice Thomas issued the sole dissent in the high court’s decision tossing Trump’s request to block presidential records related to Jan. 6 from the committee.
Ginni Thomas admitted in an exclusive interview on March 14 with the right-leaning Washington Examiner that she attended the Stop the Steal rally on Jan. 6.
Early that morning she took to Facebook and heaped support on demonstrators amassing near the Capitol who believed the election had been stolen.
“Watch the MAGA crowd today best with Right Side Broadcasting… and then C-Span for what the Congress does starting at 1PM today. LOVE MAGA people!!!!” she wrote. [Emphasis original]
In another message on Facebook 15 minutes later she wrote: “GOD BLESS EACH OF YOU STANDING UP or PRAYING.”
After blood had been shed in the Capitol and a rush of criticism began circulating online, Thomas tweaked the posts with disclaimers. She noted they were “written before violence in U.S. Capitol.”
Thomas deactivated her Facebook account not long thereafter.
As of Friday, over 30 organizations including Demand Justice and the American Constitution Society, have called on the House Judiciary Committee to hold public hearings on the Supreme Court’s code of ethics.
In a letter made public Friday, the groups noted Ginni Thomas’s regular and open involvement in right-wing activism and profits she earns from her consulting firm, Liberty Consulting.
“Every federal judge in this country except the nine justices of the Supreme Court are bound by a code of ethics that would prevent such blatant conflicts of interest. The lack of a binding code of ethics and basic standards of conduct for the nine justices of our nation’s highest court is a major concern for the country,” the letter noted.
Justice Thomas HJC Letter-2 by Daily Kos on Scribd
Ginni Thomas, according to records obtained by the independent government oversight group American Oversight, had friendly access to people inside the Trump White House.
Calendar entries from March 2020 belonging to Russ Vought, Trump’s deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, show a breakfast scheduled with Ginni. Two years before, she was invited by a Trump Health and Human Services official to host a prominent conservative panel.
American Oversight also got its hand on emails that suggested Justice Thomas was in frequent contact with Trump ally and Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.
In one June 2021 email to the governor’s office for a “coalition call of conservative patriots” Ginni Thomas told a scheduling assistant DeSantis should know her because “my husband has been in contact with him.”
Jennifer Taub, a law professor at Western New England University, told Daily Kos in an email Friday there is “no question” Ginni Thomas should be subpoenaed by the committee if she refuses to appear willingly.
“Her explanation of those messages in which she appears to be advising the White House about overturning the election results is essential. Remember that the committee is investigating whether the events of January 6th amount to federal crimes, if so, which ones, and who participated,” Taub said. “Already in an unrelated court filing, the committee has expressed a good faith belief that Donald Trump engaged in criminal obstruction of justice and was part of a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States to prevent the counting of the electoral votes.”
Indeed, as the committee has fought for access to emails belonging to attorney John Eastman, they say evidence unearthed by the panel so far has indicated that Trump “and his associates began to plan extra-judicial efforts to overturn the results of the election and prevent the president-elect from assuming office.”
“To move from a good faith belief about Trump's role to solid evidence to make a referral to the Department of Justice, the committee needs to know more,” Taub said. “Thomas may have a lot of information to offer beyond just these texts. She attended the Stop the Steal rally that immediately preceded the attack and though she says she left before the mob attacked the Capitol, getting her to commit to that story in a context where making a false statement would be a crime is essential to getting to the bottom of this.”
As for Justice Thomas, Taub said he should recuse himself but does not believe he would.