Years before she became one of the most prominent supporters of then-President Donald Trump’s coup, Ginny Thomas was already notorious in his West Wing, among other things, for ruining officials’ afternoons by turning Trump into vengeful outbursts. “We all knew that within minutes of Ginny leaving her meeting with the president, she would start shouting that she was firing people because she was unfaithful,” said a former senior Trump administration official. “When Ginny Thomas showed up, you knew your day was ruined.” Ever since she was welcomed into Trump’s home, Thomas – an influential and longtime conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas – has perfected a proven formula of fascination and manipulation. On many occasions during the Trump era, Thomas appeared in the White House, sometimes for a private meeting or a dinner with the president. She often came armed with written memoirs about who she and her allies believed Trump should hire for plum work – and who she thought Trump should clear immediately – which she shared with Trump and other high-ranking government officials. The fire lists were particularly troubling, as they were often based on pure speculation, rumors or settlement, where even MAGA aides were consistently targeted as part of the “Deep State” or some other alleged anti-Trump coalition, according to people who saw them as during the Trump administration. The recruitment lists were so often filled with notorious bigots and conspiracy theorists, sad unqualified names, and obvious close friends of Thomas that many of Trump’s top aides would laugh with him — that is, until Trump forced him to do so. some names. the official audit process, said three sources familiar with the matter. During the Trump years, these memos would surprise various administration officials, including those working in the White House Presidential Office (PPO). Some of these officials have observed that as long as Trump’s term is in place, the Thomas lists will increasingly contain a disproportionate share of names that are more suited to a number of OAN guests than any functioning government. (To be fair, long before Ginny Thomas became a recurring visitor, Trump usually hired people because they had entertained or excited him, through Fox and other cable news appearances.) The story goes on PPO officials regularly commented on the margins of Thomas’s recruitment lists, usually including a single line for each rejected name, explaining why future recruitments had no effect. Some failed history checks or suffered security clearances. Other commentators noted that a specific individual was offered a job in the Trump administration, but turned it down for whatever reason. At times, the reason for the White House’s precautionary rejection, despite the best efforts of Thomas and Trump, was more bizarre. According to a person reviewing one of Thomas’s lists, a comment on a MAGA job applicant noted that this person had made too many extreme or offensive jokes on social media that were still visible. Another of these comments argued that a recommendation for a position in the Trump administration was, in fact, a suspicious foreign intelligence asset or spy. Thomas did not respond to requests for comment. Over the years, some of the specific names that Thomas had gathered and pushed Trump and his West Wing have come out in the press. Among them were Fox News personality Dan Bongino and Sheriff David Clark, who admires Trump. And according to two sources familiar with the matter, Thomas, unsuccessfully, had advised the then president to hire Frank Gaffney. Gaffney, a former Pentagon official in the Reagan administration, has spent the past two decades embracing some of the most absurd conspiracy theories on the far right. He accused conservative anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist of being an undercover agent of the Muslim Brotherhood and believed that American opponents were working on secret “electromagnetic” weapons that fry electrical appliances to bring America back to pre-industrial times. Democrats are angry with Clarence Thomas but have no idea what to do about it “These fucking lists were so crazy and inapplicable,” said a former Trump White House official who had to deal with Thomas’s memoirs and Trump’s charm with them. “Many of them were dripping with paranoia and reading as if they were written by a disturbed person.” Shortly after Thomas’s departure, he would call in a number of government officials — West Wing stars, national security aides, lawyers and other officials, depending on their proximity or circumstances — to inform them that he had just spoken to Ginny. Trump would then identify an official – or, at times, rattle a number of names – who said he should be fired “immediately,” according to those familiar with the matter. When they managed to escape, many of these hands of the Trump administration slowly walked these dismissal instructions inspired by Thomas and waited until Trump would always forget it, calm down and move on to other commitments and crises. Others would try to reassure Trump themselves by advising their boss to reconsider, telling him that a dismissal or a bigger crackdown in the middle of Trump’s term would make him look ugly or attract negative media attention. Thomas’s interactions with the Trump administration have taken on new significance since the House of Representatives Select Committee on January 6 published text messages urging Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to help overthrow the 2020 The committee members are now seeking an interview with Thomas, whose efforts to overthrow the 2020 election included attending a “Stop the Steal” rally at the National Mall on the day of the uprising. “Trump liked talking to Ginny so much because he liked to hear about who Trump was or was supposed to be. He loved the people who flattered him, [as Ginni would do]Said Stephanie Grisham, once Trump’s top aide to the White House, who has since had a very public dispute with the former president. “But also, in addition to his obsession with faith, he just liked to gossip – all the time. “This is something else he took out of his series of meetings at the White House with Ginny Thomas.” In a text message released by the commission last month, Thomas defended Sidney Powell, a Kraken lawyer whose election conspiracy theories were so bizarre that he won a bill for defamation of billions and billions of dollars. sanctions by a Michigan court. At the time, several Trump aides were trying to oust the president from Powell because of her increasingly bizarre allegations of electoral fraud. Thomas, however, urged Meadows not to give in to the ruling Republicans, according to the New York Times. In her writings with Trump’s adviser, Thomas also showed love for Steve Pieczenik, a far-right expert and former co-author of Tom Clancy, whose conspiracy theories and false claims were so drawn to even InfoWars that he was prevented from doing so. little to appear on the network. Before launching false stories about watermarked fraudulent ballot papers that had won Thomas approval, Pieczenik had promoted QAnon conspiracy theories, claimed to have arrested Pope Francis, and fabricated fake stories as protagonists. During the Obama administration, Thomas and Gaffney participated in a conservative exchange effort known as “Groundswell.” The group, an informal network of conservative journalists, experts and politicians, met regularly at the offices of the right-wing activist group Judicial Watch to coordinate points of opposition to the Obama administration’s agenda and plan to oust so-called Republican Republicans. from the wider conservative movement. Genie Thomas’s election fraud guru claims to have arrested the Pope The revelation of Thomas’s texts with Meadows prompted the Jan. 6 commission to request an interview with her, according to CNN, but this effort lags far behind the most legally binding choice of summons. Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, are divided over how they will handle Thomas’s cape in the Jan. 6 scandal. Some, such as Oregon Senator Ron Weiden, have called for Thomas to step down from the Jan. 6 case, while others, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have asked him to resign or resign. But the lack of a Democratic majority in the Senate means that none of the Thomas will have to leave office yet. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the biggest saddles and scandals of the Daily Beast directly in your inbox. Register now. Stay up to date and get unlimited access to Daily Beast’s unparalleled reports. Register now.
