The Jan. 6 select committee released two dozen new transcripts Friday morning, including interviews with Ginni Thomas and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, came under scrutiny for pushing former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Giuliani spoke at the rally that preceded the riot at the U.S. Capitol. He was previously mayor of New York City.
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In her voluntary testimony, Thomas said she regretted the “tone and content” of her texts with her friend Connie Hair, chief of staff for Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. Gohmert later filed a lawsuit against Vice President Mike Pence in an attempt to make him overturn the results of the election.
“I regret the tone and content of these texts. And other than that, it was an emotional time, and I was texting with a friend who I had known a long time,” Thomas said. “So I really find my language imprudent and my choices of sending the context of these emails unfortunate.”
She also defended her political activity, saying she and her husband never discuss details of their day-to-day work that could provide conflicts of interest in their separate arenas of law and politics.
“I can guarantee that my husband has never spoken to me about pending cases in the court. It’s an ironclad rule in our house,” she said, adding, “Let me also add, it’s laughable for anyone who knows my husband to think I could influence his jurisprudence. The man is independent and stubborn, with strong character traits of independence and integrity.”
Giuliani invoked attorney-client privilege throughout his testimony, which shielded him from providing answers to some specific questions. He started the interview by slamming the whole proceeding as illegal after a staff member stated that he was testifying under subpoena.
“Well, I thought I was testifying voluntarily, largely because I don’t recognize the validity of the subpoena because there was no consultation with a […] ranking minority member, because there is no ranking minority member because they were rejected by the speaker of the House […] So I do not recognize the validity of the subpoena. I’m here voluntarily,” he said.
One of the questions he invoked attorney-client privilege on was his messaging strategy shortly after the 2020 election in which he allegedly wanted to “call the Dems crooks and go hard on Dominion/Smartmatic, bringing up [Venezuelan dictator Hugo] Chavez and [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro and that we have airplane receipts that the company owners flew to Venezuela in 2011, all of this to show how crooked the process was. Additionally, to hit the Dominion CEO is an antifa donor as we continue to look for anomalous results.”
Giuliani also offered insight into his relationship with Trump’s 2020 campaign manager Bill Stepien, who he did not like.
“I could never understand why the president selected him because I didn’t think he was in that — he’d never run a presidential campaign, and he seemed to be way over his head. And when dealing with me, he seemed to be somewhat frightened,” he said.
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Stepien was supposed to testify at one of the committee’s public hearings in June but was unable to attend when his wife went into labor.
The testimonies are in the latest batch of transcripts the committee has been making public over the past few weeks. It voted to publish its final report and make criminal referrals for former President Donald Trump and lawyer John Eastman in its last public meeting.
