The wife of conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said in an interview that she attended the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally that preceded the attack on the US Capitol.
Virginia ‘Ginni’ Thomas, a longtime conservative activist told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview that she was at the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally on Jan. 6 at the Ellipse but got cold and left before Trump’s speech.
“I was disappointed and frustrated that there was violence that happened following a peaceful gathering of Trump supporters on the Ellipse on Jan. 6,” Thomas told the conservative outlet. “There are important and legitimate substantive questions about achieving goals like electoral integrity, racial equality, and political accountability that a democratic system like ours needs to be able to discuss and debate rationally in the political square. I fear we are losing that ability.”
She said her presence at the Ellipse that morning was the extent of her activity on Jan. 6.
The interview follows reports in the New Yorker and New York Times Magazine that renewed questions about whether her work as a conservative activist raises ethical issues relating to Justice Thomas’ role on the Supreme Court.
Critics have long argued that Thomas should recuse himself from certain cases that appear before the court due to Ginni’s political activities. Those calls grew in January when Justice Thomas was alone in indicating that he would have granted Trump’s request to block the release of White House records to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
Ginni told the Free Beacon that her activism has no bearing on Justice Thomas’ work on the court.
“Like so many married couples, we share many of the same ideals, principles, and aspirations for America,” she said. “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.”
