Fact Checking a Claim That Ginni Thomas Was ‘One of the Organizers’ of January 6
There is no evidence to support the claim.
A viral tweet claims that Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is “one of the organizers” of January 6.
The tweet is also being widely circulated on Facebook.
However, there is no evidence to support the claim that Thomas is an organizer of January 6.
The claim dates back to January 2021 when similar rumors alleging that Thomas was involved in the funding of “80 buses” to storm the Capitol began spreading on social media.
Mark Joseph Stern ***FAIR COLAs FOR SLATE*** @mjs_DC
On the morning of Jan. 6, Ginni Thomas—wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas—endorsed the protest demanding that Congress overturn the election, then sent her “LOVE” to the demonstrators, who violently overtook the Capitol several hours later. She has not posted since. https://t.co/378CHMkFN5It is possible that Thomas supported the Save America March on January 6, 2021, from which many attendees journeyed to the Capitol, but there is no proof that Thomas was involved in the funding of 80 buses to the Capitol, nor is there evidence to suggest that she is an organizer of January 6.
Slate staff writer Mark Joseph Stern addressed these claims in a Twitter thread last January. Thomas, in tweets that have since been deleted, expressed her support for the “MAGA crowd.” The original tweets have been saved and screenshotted by Stern:
The only evidence we have to suggest that Thomas may have “funded 80 buses for the protest” is a now-deleted January 2021 tweet from conservative activist Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) and its sister organization, Turning Point Action, which describes itself as “accelerating freedom through conservative action.” It’s also worth noting that Turning Point Action acquired the group “Students for Trump” in July 2019.
Kirk’s original tweet claimed that Students for Trump and Turning Point Action were “sending 80+ buses full of patriots to DC to fight for this president.”
Thomas once served on Turning Point USA’s advisory board, but a spokesperson for Turning Point USA confirmed to The Dispatch Fact Check that Thomas is no longer involved with Turning Point USA and was not involved in January 2021. Thomas is not listed on Turning Point USA’s advisory board or honorary board, per the organization's website.
Turning Point’s sister organization, Turning Point Action, did provide some travel accommodation* to the “rally portion” on January 6, but a spokesperson claims that “Turning Point USA was not involved in the January 6th event in D.C.”
The spokesperson made the following statement via email in January 2021: “Turning Point USA was not involved in the January 6th event in D.C. Students for Trump, which is run by Turning Point Action, an affiliated 501c4, did sponsor approximately 350 student attendees by providing travel accommodations on seven buses to and from the rally portion to hear from conservative speakers as well as the president. Students for Trump attendees were immediately bused out upon the conclusion of the president’s remarks and did not participate in the march to the Capitol. Turning Point Action leadership condemns political violence and did so immediately upon hearing news of the events at the Capitol.”
As of December 17, 2021, the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection has subpoenaed many former Trump officials and allies, but Thomas is not listed among them.
*Correction, January 13: The piece initially stated that Turning Point USA provided transportation to some students to attend the rally on the mall. It was actually Turning Point Action.
Simply stating it is Mark Joseph Stern really is all you need to know. A great drinking game is to read his commentary on SCOTUS decisions to see what key part of the decision he ignores to make his point.
Great, more crazies.
Just great.