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Don’t expect to see Ginni Thomas’ testimony in the hearing
Shortly after the committee postponed the hearing in late September, investigators interviewed Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, for about 3.5 hours.
Thomas, who goes by Ginni, had reportedly pushed Trump administration officials and others to try to challenge Biden’s electoral victory in 2020.
But it’s not clear if Thomas’ testimony will feature in Thursday’s hearing. And even if Thomas is heard, it’s unlikely she will be seen.
“I don’t think she was a key figure, necessarily,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said of Thomas in an MSNBC interview on Sunday.
Thomas was not videotaped during her interview with the committee, Lofgren said, explaining that was part of the agreement reached in exchange for her testimony.
“We may” hear from Thomas, Lofgren said. But “we did not video her interview, so it would be transcripts, if they’re going to use that. But we have plenty of other information as well.”
A committee aide previewing the hearing declined to say whether Thomas would be a part of the presentation, NBC reported.
— Kevin Breuninger
A major focus of the hearing: Trump’s intentions and ties to extremist groups
The hearing will touch on the “close ties between people in Trump world and some of these extremist groups,” committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren said in a CNN interview Tuesday.
But “that’s not the only thing the hearing will be about,” said Lofgren, D-Calif. “We’re going to be going through, really some of what we’ve already found, but augmenting with new material that we’ve discovered through our work throughout this summer.”
That involves focusing on Trump’s intentions, including “what he knew, what he did, what others did,” she said.
Asked to be more specific about the alleged ties between “Trump world” and the extremist groups, Lofgren said, “Let’s just say that the mob was led by some extremist groups, they plotted in advance what they were going to do, and those individuals were known to people in the Trump orbit.”
“I do think that it will be worth watching,” Lofgren said. “There’s some new material that, you know, I found as we got into it, pretty surprising.”
— Kevin Breuninger
A much-delayed hearing lands close to the midterms
The committee’s ninth hearing comes more than two months after the last presentation in late July, resurfacing the riot in the final sprint to the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
The hearing was originally scheduled for late last month, but the committee leaders opted to delay it on the eve of the event, citing the major hurricane bearing down on Florida at the time.
It now arrives less than four weeks before Election Day, where Democrats and Republicans are vying for control of both chambers of Congress and key positions of power at the state level.
The committee also faces an end-of-the-year deadline to submit a final report to the president and Congress containing its findings and policy recommendations.
— Kevin Breuninger
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