Source: Politics<\/p>\n
When news broke last week that Virginia \u201cGinni\u201d Thomas had texted White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, imploring him to overturn the 2020 election results to keep Donald Trump in power, it sent shockwaves through Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
But not quite as much so for veterans of the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
Thomas, a conservative activist and the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, was a familiar name among staffers in the Trump West Wing. Part gadfly, part name dropper, and a major D.C. fixture, she was known by Trump officials for sharing the names of people she wanted hired and fired by the president. Among them were friends of the couple, members of her right-wing network of activists and operatives at Groundswell, and people Thomas believed would be unfailingly loyal to Trump. She occasionally visited with Trump at the White House, officials said, and would offer words of flattery. More than anything, she was eager to help connect people in the White House with her vast conservative network, according to multiple former White House aides.<\/p>\n
\u201cI put her in the category of \u2018her husband is a big deal and she can\u2019t be doing too much damage,\u2019\u201d said one former senior White House official, who recalled seeing Thomas with Trump. When with Trump, she was known to discuss news of the day, offer him a pep talk, the former official said, and \u201cbasically kiss his ass and tell him he was doing a great job and was the greatest president.\u201d<\/p>\n
The question of just how influential Thomas actually is has taken on heightened significance in the wake of revelations about her messages to Meadows. But finding an answer isn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n
Depending on who you ask in Washington, Thomas is either a political powerhouse or a harmless busybody with too much time on her hands and access to too big a Rolodex. And depending on who you talk to in Trumpworld, she was the type of overeager, well-connected D.C type that every administration must deal with, or a serious player who helped maintain the political coalition that elevated Trump.<\/p>\n
Steve Bannon, a conservative activist and former Trump adviser who helped form the Groundswell group, called Thomas \u201cone of the most powerful forces in the MAGA movement \u2014 a force of nature.\u201d<\/p>\n
What most can agree on is that Thomas has now stepped in it, bigly, and that her actions and far-flung conspiracy theories around the 2020 election could pose real challenges for her future and her husband\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
Text messages Thomas sent to Meadows include claims that appear to be drawn from the QAnon conspiracy rabbit holes. \u201cBiden crime family & ballot fraud co-conspirators (elected officials, bureaucrats, social media censorship mongers, fake stream media reporters, etc) are being arrested & detained for ballot fraud right now & over coming days, & will be living in barges off GITMO to face military tribunals for sedition,\u201d read one, invoking the long-held view among QAnon adherents that Trump\u2019s political opponents will be dragged off to the U.S. naval base in Cuba.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not concede,\u201d Thomas texted the next day to Meadows. \u201cIt takes time for the army who is gathering for his back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The text messages were gathered by House investigators as part of their inquiry into the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill. In them, Thomas went on to advocate for lawyer Sidney Powell, who peddled debunked ideas about rigged voting machines and called for Meadows to \u201crelease the Kraken and save us from the left taking America down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the past few days, conservatives have rallied to the Thomases\u2019 defense, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell<\/a> suggesting the reporting on the texts was an attempt to \u201cbully\u201d Thomas\u2019 husband. But even the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board<\/a> called Thomas\u2019 text messages \u201cembarrassing\u201d and said they show she \u201cindulged some of the nuttier election-fraud theories.\u201d And while the paper argued there is no need for Justice Thomas to recuse himself from future cases, a slew of Democrats have demanded he step aside from matters related to the Trump administration and 2020 election if not resign altogether.<\/p>\n For Trump officials, it\u2019s all raised questions as to why they were spending the post-election period indulging wild conspiracies about election fraud and how seriously they took individuals like Ginni Thomas.<\/p>\n Then again, Thomas has long had many audiences with conservatives in power. She has worked for establishment D.C. outfits such as the Heritage Foundation, where she helped gather resumes for the George W. Bush administration’s transition, and later formed Liberty Central and Groundswell, two groups that have been credited with helping usher in a wave of Tea Party activists and lawmakers like Meadows to Washington. She is described by former colleagues as someone who takes action for causes she believes in, and she hasn\u2019t been shy about making her politics known and public.<\/p>\n \u201cGinni is a longtime conservative activist who links up people in the conservative world to help amplify her message and anyone who knows Ginni Thomas knows that she is very passionate about the causes she believes in and that\u2019s a good thing,\u201d said Mark Paoletta, a former Trump White House official who is a longtime friend of the Thomases.<\/p>\n In an unusual role for a spouse of a Supreme Court justice, Thomas has worked as a special correspondent for the right-leaning website The Daily Caller<\/a>, was an adviser to the conservative group Turning Point USA, and regularly updated her followers on Facebook on her work and causes, at times sharing politically charged posts<\/a>. According to Federal Election Commission data<\/a>, Thomas has also donated more than $13,000 to Republican candidates over the years, including the campaign arm for Trump and the House Freedom Fund.<\/p>\n She supported Ted Cruz\u2019s presidential campaign in 2016 but quickly switched to Trump\u2019s side when it became clear he\u2019d be the nominee. But Thomas never held a formal role in the Trump White House. Top officials there insist she had little sway there. When asked, for instance, if Thomas was as influential in the West Wing as reports have suggested, former counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway texted, \u201cshe was not.\u201d<\/p>\n But there is evidence of her trying.<\/p>\n One former Trump White House official recalled a meeting with Trump and Thomas at the beginning of 2019, during which Thomas gave Trump a list of \u201ctwo dozen\u201d people who should have jobs in the administration but were not getting through the Presidential Personnel Office. The meeting, which was previously reported by The New York Times<\/a>, followed a meal that the Thomases had with Trump and the then-first lady Melania Trump in November 2018, according to a person close to the Thomases.<\/p>\n