A lawyer for conservative activist Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, sent a letter Tuesday to the Jan. 6 select committee questioning what value her testimony would be to the panel's investigation.
Why it matters: The committee decided to seek testimony from Thomas earlier this month after it emerged she had contact with John Eastman, a lawyer at the heart of some of former President Trump's efforts to overturn the election.
- Eastman was a major focus during in the committee's Jun. 16 hearing on Trump's pressure campaign against former Vice President Mike Pence.
- The conservative legal scholar has denied discussing the Supreme Court's deliberations on 2020 election cases with Thomas, and posted a copy of their correspondence in which she asked him to speak to a group about his work on election litigation.
What they're saying: "Based on my understanding of the facts the Committee has in its possession, I do not believe there is currently a sufficient basis to speak with Mrs. Thomas," Thomas' lawyer Mark Paoletta wrote to the committee in a letter obtained by Axios....
- He said the email posted by Eastman has little relevance to the probe and that other Eastman emails he reviewed are "even less interesting."
- He characterized texts Thomas sent Meadows pushing him to help overturn the election as "simply texting with a friend" in her "personal capacity as a private citizen."
- He also suggested that Thomas' marriage to a Supreme Court justice is a factor, writing, "I am left to believe that, if her name were Ginni Jones, the Committee would never