
Ginni Thomas' attorney wants "better justification" before Jan. 6 committee interview
CBSN
A lawyer for Virginia Thomas wrote in a letter to the Jan. 6 House committee Tuesday that he wants "a better justification for why Mrs. Thomas's testimony is relevant," before he can recommend the conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas sit for an interview.
"Based on my understanding of the communications that spurred the Committee's request, I do not understand the need to speak with Mrs. Thomas," the lawyer, Mark Paoletta, wrote to the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Paoletta's eight-page letter, which was obtained by CBS News, was first reported on by Politico.
Thomas, known as "Ginni," garnered the committee's interest after it learned she corresponded with John Eastman, a lawyer involved in the campaign to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the election results. Thomas also attended the rally that preceded the Capitol attack and urged former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows to work on overturning the 2020 election results.

A week before an expected committee vote on the controversial nomination of Trump ally Emil Bove for a federal judgeship, CBS News has obtained emails and text messages shared with Congress by a whistleblower who accuses Bove of unethical actions while he was a top Justice Department official this year.

French university courts American researchers seeking "scientific asylum" amid Trump's academic cuts
A university in France says nearly 300 American researchers have applied for a space in its "Safe Place for Science" program that was created to lure U.S. researchers seeking "scientific asylum" amid aggressive academic spending cuts and other actions against colleges by the Trump administration.