A brand new report is raising
some serious questions
about Supreme Court
Justice Clarence Thomas
and the lavish gifts
that he reportedly accepted
from a GOP megadonor
ProPublica says that a luxury vacations
from billionaire
Harlan Crow were never disclosed.
And according to these
ProPublica,
these are photos of Clarence Thomas
and his wife, Ginni Thomas,
with Crow and others
during a trip to Indonesia back in 2019.
The report says that
the Thomas flew on Crows
private jet
to Indonesia for the nine day
luxury vacation.
One that they say
is valued at more than $500,000.
Now ProPublica goes on to say that
the extent
and frequency of Crowe's
apparent gifts to Thomas
have no known
precedent in the modern history
of the United States Supreme Court.
And just minutes
ago, Senate Majority
Whip Dick Durbin had this to say, quote,
The ProPublica report
is a call to action,
and the Senate
Judiciary Committee will act
CNN Supreme Court
reporter Ariane de Vogue is joining us
now with more on this very eyebrow
raising story.
So, Arianna, how unprecedented
is this really
It's unheard of at the Supreme Court.
This ProPublica report really detailing
these lavish trips
that Justice
Clarence Thomas took and were paid for
by this mega
donor and trips,
like you said, New
Zealand, Indonesia on private jets,
private yachts at private resorts.
But what's really important
here is to put this into context,
because it comes
as the Supreme Court right now
is under this white-Hot spotlight,
where more and more people are thinking
that the court
has becoming
more political, less the judicial branch,
more like just another political branch.
And you see Congress
right now, it's moving.
It wants more ethics disclosure.
He himself,
Thomas, is arguably the most conservative
member of the court.
And, of course, his wife, Ginni
Thomas, came under fire
several months ago
for texts
that she sent to members of Trump's team
in an effort to overturn
election results.
So this is all coming
when the Supreme Court
is in the middle
of this swirling controversy.
And it
it causes trouble for Clarence Thomas
and of course,
what they're saying
now is Harlan Crow,
this Dallas businessman.
He was the one who paid for this.
It was never disclosed.
And he is given more,
according to ProPublica,
than $10 million
in political
contributions over the years.
Yeah, I mean, that's really stunning.
So, Ari, on
what has Harlan Crow
said about all of this.
Well, he did release a statement
that we got a copy of.
He said we have never asked
about a pending or lower court case.
And Justice
Thomas has never discussed one.
And we have never sought to influence
Justice
Thomas on any legal or political issue.
He says he's
unaware of any of our friends
ever lobbying or seeking
to influence Justice Thomas.
But the thing is,
it really does
put a spotlight on ethics
at the Supreme Court,
because the judicial conference
just recently amended its own rules,
and it would cover things
like staying in a private resort,
private jets.
It said that those things
have to be disclosed.
So maybe arguably,
Thomas could say, look, before that,
they didn't need to be disclosed.
So I didn't have to disclose it.
But there's also federal law in place.
And it says that members of the judiciary
should not accept anything of value
from a person
whose interests
may be substantially affected.
Again, language
that might suggest
that this kind of trip,
this kind of money
should have been disclosed.
Now, Clarence, Thomas
or neither
Clarence Thomas
or the Supreme Court
has decided
to give any kind of statement right now,
but it comes as all eyes are
on the Supreme Court.
Yeah, absolutely.
And as you said,
the federal law talks
about anything of value.
These are a lot of very valuable things.
I think most people would agree
with that. Ari Devoe.
Thank you very much.