(L-R) Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his spouse and conservative activist Virginia Thomas arrive on the Heritage Foundation on October 21, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images
A Facebook group that seems to be run by Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the spouse of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, might turn into a brand new focal point within the U.S. House Select Committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
Congressional investigators stated they deliberate to ask Ginni Thomas to testify earlier than the committee hours after Trump lawyer John Eastman on Thursday publicly posted a Dec. 4, 2020 electronic mail from Thomas asking him to talk to a gathering she known as “Frontliners,” which she described as that includes “grassroots state leaders.” Ginni Thomas is listed as an administrator of a Facebook group that goes by an identical identify and outline: “FrontLiners for Liberty.”
The personal group, which listed greater than 50 members, was created in August 2020, simply two months earlier than the November elections, in keeping with the web page’s description.
The group, which CNBC reviewed earlier than it was faraway from public view, described itself as “a new collaborative, liberty-focused, action-oriented group of state leaders representing grassroots armies to CONNECT, INFORM and ACTIVATE each other weekly to preserve constitutional governance.” Although Thomas’ private Facebook web page is not verified, it contained quite a few pictures of Justice Thomas.
The group’s pages had been faraway from public view after CNBC reached out to Thomas concerning the group. It now reveals a discover from Facebook saying that it is both been deleted or the privateness settings have been modified.
CNBC additionally tried to get solutions by way of Facebook messenger to Stephanie Coleman, who can also be listed administrator of the group and the spouse of the late Gregory Coleman who was Texas’ solicitor normal. Greg Coleman was as soon as a clerk for Justice Thomas.
Coleman and Thomas are repeatedly pictured collectively on Coleman’s private Facebook web page, together with a photograph of the 2 collectively in December 2016 with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.
Thomas requested Eastman to talk to her Frontliners group on Dec. 8, in keeping with her electronic mail to him. Eastman stated Thomas “invited me to give an update about election litigation to a group she met with periodically,” in keeping with his submit on Substack, an electronic mail publication subscription service. Thomas informed Eastman she was “on sabbatical until this election stuff is resolved.”
At the time, Trump and his allies had been submitting authorized challenges towards the 2020 election outcomes after President Joe Biden was declared the winner. Trump and people near him misplaced most of these lawsuits.
Thomas’ electronic mail to Eastman seems to be at challenge in his authorized dispute with congressional investigators wanting into the Jan. 6 assault. A federal choose not too long ago dominated towards Eastman, who was making an attempt to claim attorney-client privilege to withhold emails concerning the 2020 election. The choose ordered Eastman to show over ten paperwork, together with 4 that pertained to a gathering on Dec. 8, 2020, which was the identical date Ginni Thomas requested him to talk to Frontliners. “Two emails are the group’s high-profile leader inviting Dr. Eastman to speak at the meeting, and two contain the meeting’s agenda,” U.S. District Judge David Carter wrote in his June. 7 order.
Based on the occasion’s agenda, Eastman mentioned “‘State legislative actions that can reverse the media-called election for Joe Biden.’ Another speaker gave an ‘update on [state] legislature actions regarding electoral votes,'” Carter wrote.
Eastman, in keeping with the Jan. 6 House choose committee investigating the riot that happened about 17 months in the past, tried to persuade former Vice President Mike Pence that he held nearly unilateral energy to overturn the election. Yet, in keeping with Pence’s former counsel who testified at a Thursday Jan. 6 committee listening to, Eastman as soon as informed him that the Trump advisor’s personal authorized idea could be rejected 9-Zero if it went earlier than the Supreme Court.
The choose committee stated it plans to ask Ginni Thomas to testify about her correspondence with Eastman. Thomas informed The Daily Caller that she was keen to testify. “I can’t wait to clear up misconceptions. I look forward to talking to them,” Thomas stated. She reportedly supported efforts to overturn the 2020 election, sending textual content messages to Trump’s former chief of workers Mark Meadows that inspired him to face behind the then president’s false election claims.
A spokeswoman for the Supreme Court, a spokesman for the Jan. 6 House choose committee, Thomas, Eastman and his attorneys didn’t reply to requests for remark.
The Frontliners group additionally labored with a conservative advocacy group referred to as FreedomWorks, in keeping with the nonprofit’s spokesman Peter Vicenzi. He additionally stated that Thomas and FreedomWorks activists have been allies for years. FreedomWorks doesn’t publicly disclose their donors.
“Frontliners for Liberty, it is yet another conservative grassroots organization that FreedomWorks partners with to advance our issue set,” Vicenzi stated in an electronic mail. “Ginni Thomas, for years, has been an invaluable ally to our activist community when it comes to engaging on shared issues.”
Since Trump misplaced the election, FreedomWorks has pushed the concept there must be election reforms. Conservative lawyer Cleta Mitchell, who used to work with Trump’s marketing campaign, now chairs FreedomWorks’ multimillion greenback National Election Protection Initiative, in keeping with Newsmax.
Merissa Hamilton, who says on her LinkedIn web page that she’s a grassroots director at FreedomWorks, tweeted out in October an image at what she described as an occasion at “FreedomWorks Frontliners for Liberty.” The image confirmed Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Louie Gohmert, R-Texas and Lauren Boebert, R-Colo. attending the occasion.
After CNBC emailed Hamilton concerning the tweets, they had been deleted off her web page. She didn’t return observe up requests for remark.
