1/6 chairman: Ginni Thomas reiterates false election claims

WASHINGTON -- Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, stood by the false claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent during an interview Thursday with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, the panel's chairman said.

"It's a work in progress," Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told reporters after the more than four-hour interview ended. "At this point, we're glad she came."

The committee -- comprised of seven Democrats and two Republicans -- has for months sought an interview with Thomas in an effort to know more about her role in trying to help former President Donald Trump overturn his election defeat. The conservative activist texted with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and contacted lawmakers in Arizona and Wisconsin in the weeks after the election.

Thomas answered some of the questions from congressional investigators Thursday as she sought to portray herself as among the many Americans who still believe the baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen, according to a person familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.

But she did not provide any evidence or specific reasoning to back up her belief, the person said.

"As she has said from the outset, Mrs. Thomas had significant concerns about fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election," Mark Paoletta, her attorney, said in a statement. "And, as she told the Committee, her minimal and mainstream activity focused on ensuring that reports of fraud and irregularities were investigated."

"Beyond that, she played no role in any events after the 2020 election results," he added.

The testimony from Thomas was one of the last remaining for the panel as it eyes the completion of its work. The panel has already interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses and shown some of that video testimony in its eight hearings over the summer.

The extent of her involvement in the Capitol attack is unclear. In the days after The Associated Press and other news organizations called the presidential election for Biden, Thomas emailed two lawmakers in Arizona to urge them to choose "a clean slate of Electors" and "stand strong in the face of political and media pressure." The AP obtained the emails earlier this year under the state's open records law.

She has said in previous interviews that she attended the initial pro-Trump rally the morning of Jan. 6 but left before Trump spoke and the crowds headed for the Capitol.

Thomas, a Trump supporter long active in conservative causes, has repeatedly maintained that her political activities posed no conflict of interest with the work of her husband.

"Like so many married couples, we share many of the same ideals, principles, and aspirations for America. 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," Thomas told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview published in March.

Justice Thomas was the lone dissenting voice when the Supreme Court ruled in January to allow a congressional committee access to presidential diaries, visitor logs, speech drafts and handwritten notes relating to the events of Jan. 6.

Ginni Thomas has been openly critical of the committee's work, including signing onto a letter to House Republicans calling for the expulsion of Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois from the GOP conference for joining the Jan. 6 congressional committee.

Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Lisa Mascaro and Eric Tucker and video journalist Rick Gentilo contributed to this report.

Follow AP's coverage of the Jan. 6 insurrection at https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege