Vox Sentences - Texting to overthrow the election

Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, pressed Trump’s White House to overturn the 2020 election; the US and EU launch a joint initiative to end European reliance on Russian gas. 

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

Election conspiracy theories in White House ears

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

• Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, a conservative firebrand and the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, repeatedly pushed then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. [Washington Post / Bob Woodward and Robert Costa]
• Between November 2020 and January 2021, Ginni Thomas and Meadows exchanged 29 text messages later obtained by the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Although the messages — 21 sent by her and eight by him — do not explicitly mention Justice Thomas or the Supreme Court, they reveal an unusual amount of access when cases involving the 2020 election and its aftermath were before the Supreme Court. [CBS News]
• “Release the Kraken and save us from the left taking America down,” Ms. Thomas urged Meadows in one of several messages pushing far-right conspiracy theories about President Joe Biden’s victory. [New York Times / Danny Hakim, Luke Broadwater, and Jo Becker]
• Ginni Thomas has said that her political activism is separate from her husband’s work. “Clarence doesn’t discuss his work with me, and I don’t involve him in my work,” she told the Washington Free Beacon. [Washington Free Beacon / Kevin Daley]
• But critics say the text message exchanges still raise questions. Citing federal law, which prohibits justices from sitting in cases where their spouse has an interest in the outcome, legal scholars say Justice Thomas should recuse himself of all cases involving the 2020 election. [New Yorker / Jane Mayer]

The US and European Union launch task force to help Europe ditch Russian gas

• The US and the European Commission on Friday announced a joint task force to reduce the bloc’s dependence on Russian gas for both the near and long term amid the invasion of Ukraine. [Washington Post / Emily Rauhala, Tyler Pager, and Ashley Parker]
• Under the first part of the deal, the US will work with partners in Asia and elsewhere to secure an additional 15 billion cubic meters of liquified natural gas (LNG) for Europe. The US will also help Europe reduce its long-term dependence on fossil fuels by building out clean energy sources. [White House]
• “Putin has issued Russia’s energy resources to coerce and manipulate its neighbors,” Biden said Friday from Brussels in a joint statement with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Biden added that the US and EU could strip Vladimir Putin of that weapon with this new initiative. [Guardian / Rob Davies]
• Between 2011 and 2020, oil and gas revenue accounted for more than 40 percent of Russia’s federal budget. The European Union now receives a significant portion of its gas from Russia, so finding it elsewhere could further isolate the Kremlin and hinder its economy. [CNBC / Sam Meredith]

On Friday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he would support Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court, virtually clearing the path for her nomination. [Deepa Shiveram / Deepa Shivaram]

• Microplastics — tiny particles produced from the breakdown of plastic waste — have been found in human blood for the first time. [Guardian / Damian Carrington]
• Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused the West of canceling Russian culture like it canceled J.K. Rowling. [Reuters / Conor Humphries]
• Three in four US counties saw more deaths than births from mid-2020 to mid-2021, as the coronavirus pandemic cost lives and slowed the birth rates. [The Hill / Reid Wilson]

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“[Ginni Thomas] never learned what wiser spouses of important men and women have known: It isn’t about you. Stand down and let your better half do the job.”

[Op-ed columnist Kathleen Parker’s advice for Ginni Thomas]

The man-made famine in Ukraine that Russia continues to cover up to this day: [ YouTube]

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