Attorney Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, sent texts to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows urging him to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to information obtained by the Washington Post and CBS.
In one of 29 messages shared between the two in the weeks following the November 3 election, Thomas wrote Meadows to "Help This Great President stand firm Mark!!! ... You are the leader, with him, who is standing for America's constitutional governance at the precipice. The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History."
In another of the 21 texts sent by Thomas to the former White House chief of staff—only 8 messages were sent by Meadows—she encouraged him to "release the Kraken and save us from the left taking America down."
"Release the Kraken" was a common catchphrase among pro-Trump activists following the announcement of the results of the 2020 presidential election on November 7.
In one of his responses to Thomas on November 24, Meadows wrote: "This is a fight of good versus evil [...] Evil always looks like the victor until the King of Kings triumphs. Do not grow weary in well doing. The fight continues. I have staked my career on it. Well at least my time in DC on it."
The texts were part of about 9,000 pages of documents—including 2,320 texts—Meadows turned over to the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The content of the texts was first reported by the Washington Post and CBS on Thursday.
The messages do not involve Justice Thomas, 73, who is currently hospitalized for an infection.
In February 2021, when the Supreme Court rejected Trump's challenges to the 2020 presidential election, Justice Thomas was the only one in the court who dissented, calling the ruling not to hear arguments in the case "befuddling" and "inexplicable."
"There is no dispute that the claim is sufficiently meritorious to warrant review," said Justice Thomas, the most senior among the justices, at the time.
Ginni Thomas has previously denied the presence of any conflicts of interest between her activism and her husband's work.
But the text shed light on the weight Ginni Thomas had at the White House. Her advice to Meadows and her encouragement to fight on for a Trump's presidency were actually greeted by the former chief of staff with gratitude.
The texts span from November 5, 2020 to January 10, 2021, with a gap from November 24 to January. During that time, the U.S. Capitol was stormed by deadly riots and Joe Biden was confirmed as the winner of the 2020 elections.
In an interview with the Washington Free Beacon on March 14, Ginni Thomas admitted to attending Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally near the White House on January 6 which preceded the attack on the Capitol. She told the publication that she got cold and left early.
On January 6, Thomas had also shared messages on her Facebook saying "LOVE MAGA people!!!!" and "GOD BLESS EACH OF YOU STANDING UP or PRAYING!", as reported by the Guardian and ABC, but she has since deleted those posts and cleaned up much of her Facebook profile.
She later said she posted those messages before the attack on the Capitol, and insisted she took no part in planning or leading the riots.
Meadows' lawyer, George Terwilliger III, confirmed the messages' existence to the Washington Post but said that neither he nor his client will comment on individual texts. He added that the messages did not present "any legal issues."
Terwilliger and Ginni Thomas didn't immediately reply to a request for comment from Newsweek.
The Washington Post also revealed that Ginni Thomas and Meadows shared belief in the same conspiracy theories. Ginni Thomas shared a video with Meadows, now removed from YouTube, supporting the lie that the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, was a 'false flag' operation designed to push a gun-control agenda.
They also talked about a QAnon theory popular at the time claiming that Trump had watermarked mail-in ballots to track potential electoral fraud.
The texts between Ginni Thomas and Meadows shared with the committee paused after November 24, 2020, with a huge gap until the last message sent by Ginni Thomas on January 10, 2021.
"We are living through what feels like the end of America," Ginni Thomas wrote four days after the attack on the Capitol.
"Most of us are disgusted with the VP and are in listening mode to see where to fight with our teams. Those who attacked the Capitol are not representative of our great teams of patriots for DJT!!"
"Amazing times," she also wrote. "The end of Liberty."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek Reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. and European politics, global affairs ... Read more
