“Based on the understanding of the communications that prompted the Commission’s request, I do not understand the need to speak with Mrs Thomas,” wrote attorney Mark Paoletta to the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. . Paoletta’s eight-page letter, received by CBS News, was first reported by the Daily Caller.
Thomas, known as “Ginni”, sparked the committee’s interest after learning she was writing to John Eastman, a lawyer who campaigned for former Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to ratify the election results. Thomas also attended a rally ahead of the Capitol attack and urged former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows to work to overturn the 2020 election results.
Committee chairman Bennie Thompson said on June 24 that he expected Thomas to appear before the committee, but said they had not yet agreed on the “parameters” for her interview.
But in his letter, Paoletta expressed “grave concern” about the commission’s attempt to meet with Thomas, claiming that “the Thomases have been subjected to an avalanche of death threats and further abuse.” He claimed to have examined the communications between Thomas and Eastman and found “not a single document” showing coordination between the two.
“And further, all these emails were exchanged on December 9 or before December 9, before the voters met and were certified by each of their states,” Paoletta wrote.
Regarding Thomas’s communications with Meadows, Paoletta wrote that “she was just expressing concern about the 2020 election.”
“It is important that Mrs Thomas never claimed to have first-hand knowledge of electoral fraud,” Paoleta wrote.
The January 6 committee has held several hearings in recent weeks to share information it has learned. Meadows’s former top assistant, Cassidy Hutchinson, was the protagonist of Tuesday’s surprise hearing. Hutchinson testified that on Jan. 2, Meadows told her “things can get real, very bad on Jan. 6.”
The Commission of 6 January did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Attack on the US Capitol
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Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy, and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at [email protected] or at [email protected]
