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Ginni Thomas urges GOP lawmakers to oppose 2020 election results


Shortly after the 2020 election, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, emailed an aide to a prominent House conservative saying that she will have nothing to do with his team until his members go “in the street,” a congressional source familiar with the exchange told NBC News.

Thomas told an aide to the incoming Republican Research Committee Chairman, Jim Banks, R-Ind., that she is more aligned with the far-right House Liberal Party, whose leaders just two months later will lead the fight in Congress to overturn the results of Democrat Joe. Biden’s victory.

The RSC has long been the representative of the most conservative House of Commons members, but in the past few years it has been replaced by a caucus organized by the Liberal Party.

Thomas wrote to an aide that Freedom Caucus members were tougher than RSC members, were at war and had the backing of then-President Donald Trump, according to a source familiar with the content of the email. She said that until she sees RSC members “out on the street” and in the fight, she won’t help the RSC, the largest caucus of conservatives on Capitol Hill.

Her November 2020 email came in response to a request from the RSC to make policy recommendations as Banks is set to take the helm of the group in early 2021. But as Thomas describes the RSC as someone softened in supporting Trump and told members of the street, the aide thanked her suggestions and continued.

The bank declined to comment for this article. Thomas did not respond to a request for comment.

NBC News has not independently reviewed the email exchange, but the sources said they did not specifically mention GOP efforts to overturn the election or block confirmation of National Electoral College ballots. meeting on January 6, 2021.

According to CBS News reporting. But so far, the committee has been reluctant to go down the road of investigating the wife of a sitting Supreme Court judge.

“We have a list of people that we’re looking at who have helped finance or organize” the January 6 rally, one committee member told NBC News. “My understanding is on the broader list, she’s there. But we haven’t determined whether that information makes her a target of the committee.”

The email exchange shows that Thomas is pressuring Republicans in Congress to be more active in fighting for Trump at a crucial time when the duck president and his inner circle are devising a strategy to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election and keep him in power.

On Thursday, Washington Post and CBS News reported that Thomas repeatedly pressed Trump’s last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, to actively pursue efforts to overturn the presidential election. The couple exchanged nearly 30 text messages.

In a message to Meadows on November 10, three days after the networks predicted that Biden was the winner, Thomas rallied in front of Republicans in Congress, saying she wished more of them they lined up behind Trump and “joined the street rallies” with his grassroots supporters. Two news agencies carried angry coverage of the election.

“The people of the House and the Senate are also pathetic… only 4 GOP House members were seen in grassroots street protests… Gohmert, Jordan, Gosar and Roy,” Thomas messaged. news to Meadows, apparently referring to the Freedom Caucus quartet: Reps Louie Gohmert, R-Texas; Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; Paul Gosar, R-Ariz .; and Chip Roy, R-Texas.

The Post and CBS also reported on a November 14 text showing that Thomas sent Meadows documents from Connie Hair, Gohmert’s chief of staff. The text message appears to allude to Hair’s belief that “the most important thing you can realize right now is that there are no rules in war.”

“This war is psychological. PSYOP,” Thomas texted.

Just a few days later, Gohmert appeared at the “Million MAGA March” near the White House and told Trump supporters, “This is a rigged election, and we can’t let it stand.” He talks about “revolution.”

It’s unclear how many other GOP congressional offices Thomas emailed, texted or called between Election Day and January 6.

Thomas said she attended the January 6 “Stop Theft” rally near the White House that preceded the deadly riot at the US Capitol. And her involvement in pressuring and advising leaders in both the executive and legislative branches on efforts to overturn the presidential election is raising important ethical questions about whether political activism created a conflict of interest for her husband, Justice Clarence Thomas, who may have left to decide additional cases related to the Special House investigation into the January 6 attacks.

In January, Supreme Court rejects Trump’s argument That executive privilege prevented the Jan. 6 panel from accessing a series of files from Trump’s White House. Thomas is the only justice to indicate that the court should allow Trump to offer to block the National Archives from handing over documents.

“Judicial Thomas is the only member of the Supreme Court who will allow withholding records from Trump, Meadows, and associates from the House January 6 Committee,” said Senator Tim Kaine, D-Va., tweeted Friday. “He didn’t explain his reasoning. We need answers.”

Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said: “At a minimum, Justice Thomas needs to re-use itself from any circumstances related to the January 6 investigation,” said Senator Ron. Wyden, D-Ore. . “

In one recent interview with the Washington Free Beacon, Ginni Thomas said she and her husband “share the same ideals, principles, and aspirations for America” ​​but have “our own careers, as well as our own ideas and perspectives. “

“Clarence does not discuss his work with me, and I am not involved in his work,” she said.

Just hours after the January 6 attacks, Banks, a sophomore and president of the RSC, opposed the certification of Electoral College votes from both Arizona and Pennsylvania, arguing that some Governors and local officials changed the rules of the election. due to the pandemic. He has said Biden is president and not repeating Trump when it comes to baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud during the election.

However, Banks made the headlines last year after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., blocked both Banks and Jordan from serving on the Jan. 6 committee. banks are denied in his statement that the special panel should be used to investigate the riots occurring across the country in 2020.

Republicans boycotted the committee on January 6, prompting Pelosi to appoint two GOP critics of Trump: Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. And Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.





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