President Joe Biden elected not to wade into the controversy over whether or not Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas should recuse himself from cases involving the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, saying it’s up to the Justice Department and the House’s Jan. 6 committee.
Democrats have called on Thomas to recuse himself from any cases pertaining to the Jan. 6 riot or future cases involving former President Donald Trump, owning to ethics concerns about his spouse, Ginni Thomas. Biden was asked about the issue on Monday but sidestepped it.
WYDEN SAYS JUSTICE THOMAS SHOULD RECUSE HIMSELF FROM ANY JAN. 6 CASES
“I’d leave that to two entities,” Biden said. “One, the Jan. 6 committee, and two, the Justice Department.”
Reports emerged last week regarding his wife, Ginni Thomas, who sent several messages to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about overturning the 2020 election.
Ginni Thomas, a longtime conservative activist, insisted to the Washington Free Beacon this month that she and her husband keep their careers completely separate from one another. “Clarence doesn’t discuss his work with me, and I don’t involve him in my work,” she said.
But Democrats including Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said that’s not enough.
“At the bare minimum, Justice Thomas needs to recuse himself from any case related to the January 6th investigation, and should Donald Trump run again, any case related to the 2024 election,” Wyden wrote in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “Judges are obligated to recuse themselves when their participation in a case would create even the appearance of a conflict of interest. A person with an ounce of commonsense could see that bar is met here.”
It’s unclear what influence the Jan. 6 committee or the DOJ could have in Thomas recusing himself from cases.
Republicans have mostly rejected the recusal calls.
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“No,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy when asked about Thomas recusing. “I think Justice Thomas can make his decisions like he’s made them every other time.
