WASHINGTON — The Home committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol is more likely to attain out quickly to Virginia Thomas, the spouse of Justice Clarence Thomas, to request that she sit for an interview, in accordance with two individuals acquainted with the matter.
The choice to ask Ms. Thomas for an interview — after intense inside debate in regards to the matter — got here after the revelation final week of Ms. Thomas’s textual content messages to Mark Meadows, the previous White Home chief of employees, by which she relentlessly urged him to pursue a plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Investigators have additionally mentioned whether or not to problem subpoenas for some other communications she might have had with the White Home or the President Donald J. Trump’s authorized group in regards to the election, together with a message that she advised Mr. Meadows she had despatched to Jared Kushner, a former adviser to Mr. Trump, in accordance with individuals with information of the investigation.
After a closed-door assembly of the committee on Monday night, Consultant Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the chairman of the panel, emerged to inform reporters that “no resolution” had been made about whether or not to problem a subpoena to Ms. Thomas.
Though the committee has been in possession of Ms. Thomas’s textual content messages for months, not everybody on the panel had seen the paperwork earlier than they have been printed in information studies. That prompted debate among the many committee’s members, a number of of whom urged the panel to attempt to interview her.
An individual acquainted with the discussions mentioned the panel concluded that Ms. Thomas had related info, and that it was necessary for investigators to listen to from her. CNN earlier reported the committee’s resolution.
An adviser to Ms. Thomas didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
For a minimum of a number of weeks, the committee’s senior investigators have mentioned whether or not to name Ms. Thomas, who is named Ginni, to testify. Additionally they debated sending a subpoena to Ms. Thomas for her communications, with some prime investigators initially arguing in opposition to it as a result of they seen her as a minor participant within the makes an attempt to subvert the election. However the disclosure of the textual content messages, first by The Washington Put up and CBS Information, and public stress renewed these discussions.
A New York Instances Journal investigation final month examined the political and private historical past of Ms. Thomas and her husband. That included her function in efforts to overturn the election from her perch on the nine-member board of C.N.P. Motion, a conservative group that helped advance the “Cease the Steal” motion, and in mediating between feuding factions of organizers “in order that there wouldn’t be any division round Jan. 6,” as one organizer put it.
Ms. Thomas acknowledged that she had attended the rally that preceded the violence in an interview with a conservative information outlet this month, however she has in any other case downplayed her function. Then got here disclosure of the texts to Mr. Meadows.
Within the messages, she known as the 2020 election a “heist” and even advised the lawyer who must be put answerable for that effort.
Capitol Riot’s Aftermath: Key Developments
Choose says Trump probably dedicated crimes. In a court docket submitting in a civil case, the Jan. 6 Home committee laid out the crimes it believed former President Donald J. Trump might need dedicated. The federal choose assigned to the case dominated that Mr. Trump most probably dedicated felonies in attempting to overturn the 2020 election.
There are many results in pursue. The committee might recall Dustin Stockton, a rally organizer who advised The Instances a few dialog he had with Caroline Wren, a Republican who helped increase cash for the “March for America” on Jan. 6, by which she described Ms. Thomas’s peacemaking function. They may additionally recall Amy Kremer and Jenny Beth Martin, rally organizers near Ms. Thomas, to ask about her postelection communications with them.
The panel might subpoena information from not solely Ms. Thomas, but additionally C.N.P. Motion, which was deeply concerned within the effort to unfold falsehoods in regards to the election. Investigators might ask the identify of the buddy Ms. Thomas was referring to when she wrote again to thank Mr. Meadows, saying: “Wanted that! This plus a dialog with my finest buddy simply now … I’ll attempt to maintain holding on.” (Ms. Thomas and her husband have publicly referred to one another as their finest associates.)
In the end, the committee might ask her whether or not she had mentioned together with her husband Mr. Trump’s battle to overturn the election.
Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.
