Ginni Thomas responds to Jan. 6 panel; hearings extend into July

WASHINGTON — The House’s Jan. 6 committee plans to continue its public hearings into July as its investigation of the Capitol riot deepens.

The chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, said Wednesday that the committee is receiving “a lot of information” — including new documentary film footage of Donald Trump’s final months in office — as its yearlong inquiry intensifies with hearings into the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, and Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election that Democrat Joe Biden won.

The committee is also working on setting up an interview with Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who has responded to the panel’s request to appear, the chairman said. She was asked to speak to the committee after disclosures of her communications with Trump’s team in the run-up and day of the insurrection at the Capitol.

“It’s our expectation that we will keep talking and trying to get her to come in,” said Thompson, D-Miss.

Thomas has previously said she “can’t wait to clear up misconceptions,” suggesting she would comply with the panel’s request to testify.

The next hearing, set for Thursday, is expected to highlight former Justice Department officials testifying about Trump’s proposals to reject the election results. It would wrap up this month’s work. The committee would start up again in July, Thompson said.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., indicated Tuesday that the investigation’s schedule may be changing.

“I would just say the original hearings would have wrapped up in June, but we are picking up new evidence on a daily basis with enormous velocity,” Raskin said. “And so we’re constantly incorporating and including the new information that’s coming out.”