Ginni Thomas claims 2020 election was stolen in meeting with House Jan. 6 committee

WASHINGTON – Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, repeated claims the 2020 election was stolen, despite a lack of evidence, while testifying Thursday before the House committee investigating the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

The committee wanted to interview Ginni Thomas about her advocacy for challenging the results of the 2020 election. The chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told reporters after the session she repeated her opinion the election was stolen.

"She said that," Thompson told CNN.

Her lawyer, Mark Paoletta, issued a statement saying she answered the committee's questions, voiced her concerns about election fraud and condemned the violence of Jan. 6.

"As she has said from the outset, Mrs. Thomas has significant concerns about fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election," Paoletta said. "Beyond that, she played no role in any events after the 2020 election results."

Numerous public officials at federal and state levels investigated election results and found no widespread fraud, including Trump aides such as former Attorney General Bill Barr. Richard Donoghue, former acting deputy attorney general, said Trump provided an "arsenal of allegations" about election fraud that were all shot down, including a baseless claim about Italian satellites altering votes.

“The whole thing was very, very murky at best, and the video was absurd,” Donoghue told the House committee.

The committee has been eager to talk with Ginni Thomas because she sent dozens of text messages to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows urging him to fight the results of the 2020 election.

Among the 29 messages, Ginni Thomas called Biden's win “the greatest Heist of our History” in a text on Nov. 10, 2020, according to The Washington Post.

“Do not concede,” Thomas wrote on Nov. 6, 2020. “It takes time for the army who is gathering for his back.”

In addition, Ginni Thomas urged Arizona state lawmakers to reverse former President Donald Trump's election loss in 2020 by choosing electors themselves. The Washington Post reported she also pressured Wisconsin lawmakers to do the same.

Her political activism has raised concerns in the past about possible influence on Clarence Thomas and prompted calls for him to recuse himself from cases dealing with the Capitol attack. But Ginni Thomas said she doesn’t discuss cases with her husband, and he hasn’t commented on possible conflicts.

Ginni Thomas acknowledged attending Trump’s rally Jan. 6, 2021, before a mob of his supporters attacked the Capitol. But she said she left the rally because it was cold and never went to the Capitol.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ginni Thomas claims 2020 election stolen in Jan 6 committee testimony