Newsman: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has accepted luxury gifts from a prominent Republican donor for more than 20 years without disclosing them that possibly violating a law that requires justices, judges and members of Congress to disclose most gifts according to a new report.
This investigation comes as the nation’s high court fends off requests for a code of ethics, which would likely address similar instances.
Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, his wife, also has come under scrutiny for her back-channel efforts to help former President Donald Trump stay in power despite losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.
ProPublica reported Thursday, on a series of lavish trips Thomas has taken over more than two decades, which have been funded bybbillionaire and GOP megadonor Harlan Crow.
Thomas has accepted lavish gifts from the billionaire Dallas businessman nearly every year, which had included vacations on Crow’s superyacht and trips on the billionaire’s Bombardier Global 5000 jet as well as a week each summer at Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks, ProPublica reported, citing flight records, internal documents and interviews with Crow’s employees.
The report also found that flight records from the Federal Aviation Administration and FlightAware suggest that Thomas makes “regular use” of Crow’s jet, noting that Thomas used the private plane for a three-hour trip in 2016.
Thomas’ frequent trips to Crow’s private lakeside resort , Camp Topridge in the Adirondacks in upstate New York, have also subjected Thomas to Crow’s extensive guest list of corporate executives and political activists.
Thomas vacationed with executives at Verizon and PricewaterhouseCoopers, major GOP donors, and a leader of the American Enterprise Institute during a July 2017 trip, according to ProPublica.
The disclosures are the latest ethics controversy to dog Thomas, who also has faced tough questions about his incomplete financial disclosure forms and appearances at other political gatherings of wealthy conservative donors and influencers.
