Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, sent at least 21 text messages to Mark Meadows, then White House chief of staff, in the weeks after the Nov. 3, 2020, election, most of them urging and advising Meadows on ways to help former President Donald Trump overturn his loss to President Biden, The Washington Post and CBS News reported Thursday evening.
Some of the text messages dabbled in election conspiracy theories popular with QAnon and the far right or promoted by Sidney Powell, a controversial lawyer who briefly worked for Trump's campaign to reverse the election. Thomas, a prominent conservative activist in her own right, texted about an "army" and "cavalry" of supporters who would come to Trump's rescue. Meadows, in his eight replies, occasionally pushed back.
The first of the 29 exchanges, on Nov. 5, was Thomas sending Meadows a link to a video, now deleted, about a former State Department adviser and current far-right commentator named Steve Pieczenik. "Watermarked ballots in over 12 states have been part of a huge Trump & military white hat sting operation in 12 key battleground states," she wrote, adding "I hope this is true" and asking if it was possible.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Thomas also quote-texted: "Biden 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," adding: "I hope this is true" as well.
Thomas repeatedly urged Meadows to convince Trump to hire, then not fire, Powell. Before Powell's ill-fated Nov. 19 press conference with a sweaty Rudy Giuliani, Thomas texted Meadows: "Sounds like Sidney and her team are getting inundated with evidence of fraud. Make a plan. Release the Kraken and save us from the left taking America down." When Trump effectively dumped Powell on Nov. 22, Thomas texted: "Trying to understand the Sidney Powell distancing." Meadows texted back: "She doesn't have anything or at least she won't share it if she does." Thomas replied, "Wow!"
You can read more about Ginni Thomas' text exchanges with Mark Meadows at The Washington Post.
-
The rise in unregulated pregnancy scansUnder The Radar Industry body says some private scan clinics offer dangerously misleading advice
-
Democrats seek 2026 inspiration from special election routsIN THE SPOTLIGHT High-profile wins are helping a party demoralized by Trump’s reelection regain momentum
-
Film reviews: ‘Bugonia,’ ‘The Mastermind,’ and ‘Nouvelle Vague’feature A kidnapped CEO might only appear to be human, an amateurish art heist goes sideways, and Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Breathless’ gets a lively homage
-
Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Voting Rights Act: SCOTUS’s pivotal decisionFeature A Supreme Court ruling against the Voting Rights Act could allow Republicans to redraw districts and solidify control of the House
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
