- An ex-Trump aide called a meeting between the former president and Ginni Thomas as the "craziest" meeting he'd ever attended.
- Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is a longtime conservative activist.
- As Trump sought to court the justice, Ginni Thomas saw her opening, per a NYT Magazine report.
An aide to former President Donald Trump described a 2019 White House gathering with the then-president and Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, as the "craziest" meeting he'd ever attended, according to The New York Times Magazine.
Ginni Thomas — an attorney and conservative activist — has been in the political trenches with right-leaning leaders for decades. Her influence is so valued among conservative activists — and Justice Thomas — that she even came to the White House for what was supposed to be a private lunch between Trump and her husband, according to the magazine.
Leonard Leo, the former executive vice president of the conservative Federalist Society, told the magazine that Trump sought to cultivate a relationship with Justice Thomas once he realized the immense popularity of the jurist among the Republican base, creating an opening for Ginni Thomas with the then-president.
The magazine also detailed newly-reported ties between Ginni Thomas and organizers of a January 6, 2021 rally in support of Trump, along with efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, in which Joe Biden oust the former president in a decisive 306-232 Electoral College victory.
According to nine former Trump aides and advisors, who spoke to the magazine anonymously, the ensuing meetings with Ginni Thomas created a sense of confusion among the staffers.
Several of the staffers were unsure of Ginni Thomas' role and wondered if she was speaking as an activist or as a paid consultant, while also highlighting her insistence on promoting far-right candidates for positions within the Trump administration, per the magazine.
"Here's what the peeps think," she stated in the meetings of the GOP base, according to an aide. "We have to listen to the peeps."
Ginni Thomas' hard-driving style alienated several of the aides so much that they assembled an opposition report on her, with one of the staffers describing her as a "wrecking ball."
In January 2019, Ginni Thomas met with Trump at the White House alongside select members of her conservative group, Groundswell, where a Trump aide described the nature of the conversation in unflattering terms.
"It was the craziest meeting I've ever been to," he told the magazine. "She started by leading the prayer."
Later, the aide said that conservative attendees spoke disparagingly of "the transsexual agenda" and parents "chopping off their children's breasts."
According to the aide, Trump "tried to rein it in" but "it was hard to hear" because members of the group were praying out loud during the conversation.
Later, some key details of the White House meeting leaked, and Ginni Thomas' advocacy against transgender rights made headlines.
In the past, she has used inflammatory language against transgender Americans, saying the country is under threat by the "fascist left," which she said includes "transsexual fascists."
In the meeting, Ginni Thomas and other attendees also lamented that several conservative candidates to their liking had been stymied from assuming several roles, while advocating for the Trump administration's personnel office to be swept of "Never Trump" Republicans.
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