Insurrection Day: Citizen-Journalism Edition

[Generic Other]

79. UPDATE: Debunked by Snopes

Last edited Tue Feb 2, 2021, 07:05 PM - Edit history (2)

It has been reported from numerous sources that Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, sponsored 80 busloads of “protesters” to Wednesday’s insurrection at the Capitol. Let’s say each bus held 30 people. That’s over 2,000 individuals. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/1/9/2007521/-Ginni-Thomas-Aiding-Abetting-the-Capitol-Insurrection

Thomas is indeed a well-known right-wing organizer and conspiracy theorist. She provided Trump with several memos outlining what she believed to be government officials unfaithful to Trump, lobbied successfully for appointments of Trump loyalists to government posts, and along with other activists met with him in 2019 to discuss “appointments … that they accused the president’s aides of blocking,” for example. In 2016 — as Snopes reported in an October 2020 investigation, she was also part of efforts to promote false talking points regarding illegal voting by immigrants in the 2016 election.

However, as Stern, the Slate reporter, tweeted: “even if [Turning Point USA] funded transportation to the insurrection (and we should not automatically believe Charlie Kirk), Thomas had nothing to do with it.” As such, the claim that Ginni Thomas organized “80 buses” for the Save America Rally is false.


NOTE: DUer DLCWIdem responded to Snopes debunking:

27. I don't trust Slopes as a fact checker

They once answered false to a question about the underground railroad using those lawn jockey decorations to mark "stops". Snopes marked it for false saying that there were no "documented" historical evidence. But the study of history has evolved over the years to include oral history.

In this case the page states that the "rumor" came from the leader of talking points saying they funded 80 buses and she was once on the talking points board in 2019.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ginni-thomas-buses/

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=2686684