Election-denying N.C. governor candidate has secret ties to Ginni Thomas

North Carolina's election-denying lieutenant governor met privately with Ginni Thomas, the right-wing conspiracy theorist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, shortly before declaring that President Joe Biden "stole the election."

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, now the frontrunner in the state's Republican gubernatorial primary, took part in a private meeting with Thomas weeks after the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to a copy of his official schedule produced through a Freedom of Information Act request by The Daily Beast.

It's not clear what the pair discussed in their March 30, 2021, meeting or who else participated, but the lieutenant governor's calendar note indicates that he met with Thomas and the Frontliners for Liberty group that she runs.

Frontliners for Liberty initially started out as a Facebook group that described itself as a "liberty-focused, action-oriented group of state leaders representing grassroots armies," but it eventually transformed into a nexus for right-wing activists trying to keep Donald Trump in power – even after the vanquished ex-president left office.

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The House Select Committee investigated Thomas' group as part of its sprawling Jan. 6 probe and found that Trump attorney John Eastman spoke to the group in December 2020 at her invitation about “state legislative actions that can reverse the media-called election for Joe Biden," according to a meeting agenda obtained through a court order.

Thomas emailed dozens of state legislators in both Arizona and Wisconsin in November and December 2020 urging them to set aside Biden's election win and choose their own electors for Trump, according to communications obtained by watchdog groups and media organizations.

The Frontliners group continued their efforts to undermine Biden's election win for at least two months after his inauguration, including a gathering three weeks before Thomas' meeting with Robinson that featured a speech by conservative pundit C.L. Bryant.

“There is a robbery that is going on in this country right now,” Bryant said, according to a Washington Post report on the March 6, 2021, meeting. “In fact, I say it to you and I’ll say it loud and clear, and I’m not ashamed to say it. I won’t bite my tongue. I do believe that Donald John Trump is the only legitimate president.”