It was 2004 when the Los Angeles Times disclosed that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas had accepted expensive gifts and private plane trips paid for by Harlan Crow, a wealthy Texas real estate investor and a prominent Republican donor.
The gifts included a Bible that once belonged to abolitionist Frederick Douglass — a gift Thomas valued at $19,000 — and a bust of Abraham Lincoln valued at $15,000.
"I just knew he was a fan of Frederick Douglass, and I saw that item come available at an auction and I bought it for him," Crow explained at the time.
He also flew Thomas on his personal plane to Northern California to be his guest at the Bohemian Grove, which held all-male retreats for government and business leaders.
Thomas refused to comment on the article, but it had an impact: Thomas appears to have continued accepting free trips from his wealthy friend. But he stopped disclosing them.
Yesterday, Thomas released a statement saying that he had been advised that he did not have to disclose gifts. But one time he did disclose. So either Thomas is a liar and just stopped disclosing gifts he wanted to keep secret illegally, ~98% chance, or someone did tell him that he didn't have to disclose gifts and he stopped disclosing, ~2% chance.
Big, fat, corrupt liar
No comments:
Post a Comment