A separate source said the e-mails were part of a message sent to the commission after a federal judge ruled that Eastman’s correspondence was about the commission’s investigation into former President Donald Trump and his efforts to overthrow the 2020 presidential election. months ago. January 6.
There has been some talk of adding Thomas’s role in trying to overturn the election results at some of the committee’s upcoming public hearings, but sources have warned that the committee’s program is already very full and there is currently no plan.
Thomas did not respond to a request for comment. Eastman’s lawyers declined to comment, as did a representative of the House select committee.
California Republican Pete Aguilar, a member of the committee, did not confirm that he had the emails, but told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Wednesday night that the hearings would only contain content that the committee believed was specific to the case. its focus. research.
“The committee will not hesitate to seek additional information from individuals with information related to the investigation,” Aguilar told Cooper when asked about Thomas’s addition to the committee hearings.
“We are not talking about details, but these hearings are quite stable and locked in, and we look forward to assembling this puzzle for the American public and sharing what we know to date,” the California Democrat continued.
Eastman was the architect of a campaign of pressure around then-Vice President Mike Pence. He argued that Pence had the legal power to prevent the certification of the election results. It was a theory that Pence eventually rejected – to the wrath of Trump and his supporters. Eastman also once served as Clarence Thomas’s employee. As previously reported by CNN, Ginni Thomas was in regular contact with then-Trump leader Mark Meadows between election day and Jan. 6, encouraging him to continue the effort. to overturn the election results. Thomas has repeatedly said that her political activism has nothing to do with her husband’s work in the Supreme Court.
Clarence Thomas participated in Supreme Court cases involving the 2020 election controversy and, in a February 2021 opinion, disagreed as the full court refused to challenge the Pennsylvania mail order voting process. He has shown that he supports the claim that electoral fraud is a threat to America.
“We are fortunate that many of the cases where we have seen only alleged inappropriate rule changes, not fraud. But this observation provides only a little comfort,” he wrote. “An election free of strong evidence of systemic fraud is not enough on its own for electoral confidence.” No other justice agreed with his opinion.
Last January, Thomas disagreed on his own, as the court allowed the National Archives to release thousands of documents from the White House to the Jan. 6 committee on the former president’s attempt to claim executive power.
Thomas refused to resign in cases related to the 2020 elections.
Sources said the House select committee was considering making Ginny Thomas’s role in trying to overturn the election process part of its investigation, but has not yet invited her to file or issue a summons.
