In the face of a lot of misinformation, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas spoke with The Washington Free Beacon about events on January 6, 2021, looking to clear the air about any involvement on her part.
On two matters of importance, Thomas said that while she attended the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the protest at the U.S. Capitol, she did not help organize the event. Thomas also said that she left early after getting cold. Just as important, she was adamant that her involvement in no way reflects on the work of her husband, Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas — liberals are quick to seize on any actions from the outspoken conservative activist and use them to disparage her husband, and claim that there is a conflict of interest, calling on Thomas to recuse himself from future cases related to the events of Jan. 6.
“Like so many married couples, we share many of the same ideals, principles, and aspirations for America,” Thomas told the Free Beacon. “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.”
While Thomas has deleted her Facebook page, she has no intentions of cutting back on her professional activities.
“If you are going to be true to yourself and your professional calling, you can never be intimidated, chilled, or censored by what the press or others say,” she said.
Thomas said that she left before former President Donald Trump took the stage, being at the Ellipse rally for just a short time.
“I was disappointed and frustrated that there was violence that happened following a peaceful gathering of Trump supporters on the Ellipse on Jan. 6,” she told the Free Beacon. “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.”
The New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine have claimed that Thomas had a much larger role in the events that day, with the Times citing second-hand information from organizer Dustin Stockton to report that she played a peacekeeping role between two feuding faction leaders — Jenny Beth Martin of Tea Party Patriots and Amy Kremer of Women for America First.
As the Free Beacon noted, Thomas, Martin, and Kremer have all rejected that claim. Martin’s group played no role in organizing the rally.
“I played no role with those who were planning and leading the Jan. 6 events,” Thomas said. “There are stories in the press suggesting I paid or arranged for buses. I did not. There are other stories saying I mediated feuding factions of leaders for that day. I did not.”
A spokesman for the Times stood by their report, telling the Free Beacon: “We do not go into detail on our editorial process. Our reporting was fair and accurate and we stand behind it.”
The Times said Thomas was a “leader” of the Council for National Policy, referencing two memoranda that “outlined pressure tactics for influencing Republican lawmakers ahead of certification and damage control strategies after the Jan. 6 riot,” as described by the Free Beacon.
Thomas said she played no role in crafting either document and has not seen them, insisting that the Times and the New Yorker overstated her ties to the council.
“As a member of their [501]c4 board, candidly, I must admit that I do not attend many of those separate meetings, nor do I attend many of their phone calls they have,” she said. “At CNP, I have moderated a session here and there. I delivered some remarks there once too.”
There was also an issue of emails about the 2020 election sent to a listserv of former Thomas clerks… more from the Free Beacon:
There was a skirmish among Justice Thomas’s sprawling network of ex-clerks after John Eastman, a lawyer who advised Trump on tactics for stopping certification of the results, sent emails to a listserv called Thomas Clerk World casting doubt on the integrity of the election. The exchanges appeared in part in the New Yorker and the Times.
Helgi Walker, who clerked for the justice and practices in the Washington, D.C., offices of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, said the exchanges were uncharacteristic for the listserv and that bad feeling hasn’t lingered. Law clerk networks are generally friendly and intimate, but the Thomas clerk network is famously close.
“The Thomas clerk family—and we do refer to it as a family because that’s what it is—is one of the most special and close-knit groups I have ever been a part of,” Walker told the Free Beacon. “It really was a blip, and our group is strong—stronger than ever.”
Describing herself as her mother’s daughter, Thomas said her mother “loved America and worked hard in the political lane to preserve American exceptionalism with candidates and causes.”
Saying that she avoids any work of a legal nature, Thomas said she sought ethics guidance from Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, who saw no problem with her being involved in politics as long as took no position on a discrete case before the Supreme Court.
“The legal lane is my husband’s—I never much enjoyed reading briefs and judicial opinions anyway and am quite happy to stay out of that lane,” she said. “We do not discuss cases until opinions are public — and even then, our discussions have always been very general and limited to public information.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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