Associate Justice Clarence Thomas has come under mounting scrutiny over failures to disclose personal trips covered by a wealthy GOP donor. File Photo by Eric Lee/UPI |
License PhotoAug. 6 (UPI) — Clarence Thomas continues to conceal international travel covered by a wealthy Republican donor, a top Democratic senator said as he revealed a previously undisclosed trip the Supreme Court justice and his wife enjoyed more than a decade ago aboard Harlan Crow’s private jet.
Citing U.S. Customs and Border Protection records, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said in a letter Monday that Thomas and his wife, conservative activist Ginni Thomas, flew round trip aboard Crow’s private jet from Hawaii to New Zealand in November of 2010.
The letter was addressed to Crow’s lawyers in demand of financial and travel records concerning their client to see if personal trips involving Thomas were being used to evade paying taxes.
“I am deeply concerned that Mr. Crow may have been showering a public official with extravagant gifts, then writing off those gifts to lower his tax bill,” Wyden said.
As chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Wyden has been investigating both Thomas and Crow for impropriety and tax evasion following last August’s revelation that the high-court justice has accepted dozens of lavish and undisclosed vacations and gifts covered by Crow and other benefactors.
Wyden in the letter accused Crow’s lawyers of evading his previous requests for information and records concerning “all trips” Thomas has taken on jets and yachts own or charted by their client in the context of “personal hospitality.”
“These should not be difficult questions to answer,” he said. “The possibility that Mr. Crow may have lavished secret gifts on a sitting Supreme Court justice and then impermissibly reduced his taxable income by millions of dollars with impunity requires legislative scrutiny.”
Wyden said he is seeking to understand the means and scale of Crow’s undisclosed largesse to Thomas to aid in his committee’s drafting of legislation concerning the Supreme Court.
Thomas’ ethical conduct and relationship with the wealthy donor has been under mounting scrutiny since it was uncovered in August of last year that he has accepted dozens of lavish and undisclosed vacations and gifts covered by Crow.
The attention has also placed a spotlight on the high court’s ethical conduct that last week saw President Joe Biden propose sweeping changes affecting the justices, including term limits and a binding code of ethics to curb conflicts of interest.
The justices are expected to voluntarily disclose gifts and travel though Thomas has argued that those he did not make public fall under “personal hospitality” as they are from close friends without cases before the court.
Wyden’s letter states he is trying to see if Crow has used this “personal hospitality” trips to write off millions in taxes.
Amid the scandal, Thomas has updated his annual income disclosure forms, but Wyden states he and Crow have still not been forthcoming.
