Topline
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said he was advised that he did not have to disclose luxury trips paid for by GOP megadonor Harlan Crow because Crow and his wife are “personal friends,” he said in his first statement on the issue Friday, amid calls for his impeachment over the potential ethics violation.
Associate Justice Clarence Thomas sits during a group photo of the Justices at the Supreme Court in … [+]
Key Facts
Thomas said he “sought guidance from . . . colleagues and others in the judiciary” at who instructed him that he did not have to report the trips on his financial disclosure statements because they constituted “personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the court.”
Thomas said the Judicial Conference recently changed its guidance on financial disclosures and that it is his “intent to follow this guidance in the future.”
The statement follows a ProPublica report on Thursday that found the conservative justice has repeatedly used Crow’s private jet for travel and vacationed with him on his superyacht and at his private resort in the Adirondacks dozens of times for more than two decades, prompting calls for his impeachment from progressive lawmakers and a Senate Judiciary Committee probe.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2023/04/07/clarence-thomas-calls-harlan-crow-and-wife-personal-friends-who-provided-private-jet-and-trips-on-superyacht/