During a segment of CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday morning, Rep. Liz Cheney told Jake Tapper that the Jan.6 committee is in talks with counsel for Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, regarding what they hope to be her voluntary participation in their ongoing investigation on what the committee's co-chair refers to as "her role in advocating to overturn the 2020 election results."
"We certainly hope that she will agree to come in voluntarily, but the committee is fully prepared to contemplate a subpoena if she does not. I hope it doesn't get to that. I hope she will come in voluntarily," Cheney said to CNN. "So it's very important for us to speak with her and as I said, I hope she will agree to do so voluntarily but I'm sure we will contemplate a subpoena if she won't."
The committee is primarily interested in reviewing documents in Mrs. Thomas' possession that they deem relevant to their investigation, according to CNN.
"The committee has email correspondence between Thomas and former President Donald Trump's election attorney John Eastman, as well as texts between her and Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows," says CNN reporter Daniella Diaz. "The texts show Thomas urging Meadows to continue the fight to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Eastman and Meadows have also been subjects of the committee's investigation."
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"There are lines that shouldn't be crossed, but those lines involve sitting Supreme Court justices not presiding or appearing or taking action in cases in which their spouse may be implicated," says Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a panel member on CBS' "Face the Nation," in response to Cheney's subpoena comment. "And in this case for Clarence Thomas to issue a decision in a case — a dissent in a case where Congress was trying to get documents and those documents might involve his own wife, that's the line that's been crossed."
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