Clarence Thomas breaks silence on billionaire Republican mega donor showering him with gifts

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Friday that colleagues assured him that “personal hospitality” from close friends was allowed — in his first remarks since a smash report about accepting luxury travel from a billionaire developer.

Thomas issued the statement — an unusual response to public attention for a Supreme Court Justice — a day after it was announced that Dallas-based Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow had funded Thomas and his wife “Ginny” for field trips to Indonesia and to a peaceful retreat in upstate New York.

“Harlan and Kathy Crow are among our dearest friends, and we have been friends for over twenty-five years,” Thomas said in a statement.

“As friends do, we’ve joined them on a number of family outings over the more than quarter-century we’ve known them,” he said — without disputing any element of AA. ProPublic report that said they traveled annually to Crow’s Camp Topridge in the Adirondacks.

“At the beginning of my tenure on the Court, I sought the advice of my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was told that this kind of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who had no business before the Court, could not be reported. I have tried to follow that advice throughout my tenure and have always tried to comply with disclosure guidelines.”

“These guidelines are now being changed as the Judicial Conference committee responsible for financial disclosure for the entire federal judiciary announced new guidelines last month. And of course it is my intention to follow these guidelines in the future,” he added.

The guidelines Thomas referred to were tightened up just weeks ago, and now explicitly justifies demanding gifts and free property stays. However, there is nothing in the past that would have prevented a justice from erring on the side of disclosure and revealing lavish travel that had been provided for free.

The Ethics and Government Act of 1978 requires judges to file an annual disclosure form when required to disclose gifts, but makes an exception for “personal hospitality.”

A judicial policy Guide refers to the “personal hospitality” exception. But the language says it doesn’t apply to travel that replaces commercial transportation – which is like luxury jet or yacht travel.

“The exemption for reporting personal hospitality gifts applies only to food, lodging or entertainment and is intended to cover such gifts of a personal, non-business nature,” the guide said.

“Therefore, the reporting exemption does not include gifts other than food, lodging or entertainment, such as transportation in lieu of commercial transportation,” it says.

His response came amid a new investigation into his relationship with Crow, whom he met in the 1990s, a few years after Thomas joined the Supreme Court.

Crow reportedly once gave $500,000 to Thomas’s wife Ginni to start a Tea Party-related group.

The 74-year-old billionaire real estate developer who has lavished Thomas with gifts and travel is the chairman of a highly successful private investment firm, Crow Holdings, with nearly $29 billion in holdings, according to the Dallas Morning News.

He inherited the real estate empire founded by his father, Trammall Crow, who was the country’s largest landowner in 1986, according to the Wall Street Journal, with nearly 300 million square feet of developed real estate.

He has been active in Republican politics, at one time served on the founding committee of the Club for Growth and served on the board of the American Enterprise Institute.

He has donated millions to Republican campaigns and conservative groups. He also presented Thomas with a series of unusual gifts, such as a bust of Abraham Lincoln and a $19,000 bible that once belonged to Frederick Douglass.

A ProPublica report revealed that Thomas made a ruling in his own favor by allowing himself to use luxury jets, a mega yacht and stunning retreats all owned by the same real estate mogul.

He bought and helped restore Camp Topridge in the Adirondacks, tearing down some buildings and building new ones in the facility once owned by Marjorie Merriweather Post.

A friend of the Bush family, Crow is a trustee of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Texas and also supports the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

He is a member of the Most High Court Historical Society, though he said in a statement that he has never done business in Thomas’ court.

Crow has not been a party to a Supreme Court lawsuit, but has been involved with two conservative groups involved in filing supporting orders in cases coming before the Supreme Court.

Besides politics, Crow has taken a particular interest in history — the backyard of his $24 million Dallas residence is dominated by old statues of dictators he’s collected from fallen regimes, including Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, according to the New York Times.

Powerful Judge Thomas, who has found new clout in the 6-3 Conservative court, has been accepting the “hospitality” of real estate billionaire Harlan Crow for more than 20 years, enjoying luxury vacations and transportation he couldn’t afford in his own car . $285,000 per annual salary.

This includes touring Indonesia’s Pacific waters on a 50-foot multi-deck superyacht that comes with a crew and a private chef in 2019, according to the report by the journalistic nonprofit organization ProPublica.

The jet seats 16 and its “advanced wing design makes for a quiet flight and a smooth ride,” according to promotional materials.

Thomas also made a trip to New Zealand on Crow’s yacht about ten years ago. Afterwards, Thomas gave a yacht worker a copy of his memoir and signed it: “Thank you so much for all your hard work during our New Zealand adventure.”

Thomas has been a regular guest at Crow’s Adirondacks resort, Camp Topridge, which was once owned by the state of New York for use by the governor, but was sold due to high maintenance costs. According to the report, he usually goes for a week every summer. The retreat was built by heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post.

It’s all part of a long-standing friendship that began after Thomas joined the Supreme Court following his controversial post-nomination confirmation by President George HW Bush.

To keep up with the outdoor theme, Thomas has also traveled with Crow to the exclusive Bohemian Grove retreat in Sonoma, California, where presidents including Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon have gone.

Thomas has not disclosed the trips. The Supreme Court, unlike other federal courts, does not subject its members to an official code of conduct — although Chief Justice John Roberts has urged judges to consult it for guidance.

Thomas and his wife Ginny didn’t have to worry about commercial flights for the nine-day trip, which included traveling aboard a private jet, a Bombardier Global 5000. That brought the cost of the expedition to $500,000, if the Justice Department has it. self-paid, according to the nonprofit’s analysis.

Crow issued a lengthy statement in response to the new revelations about the extent of his journey with Thomas.

“My wife Kathy and I have been friends with Judge Thomas and his wife Ginni since 1996. We are very good friends,” he said.

“The hospitality we have extended to the Thomas’s over the years is no different from the hospitality we have extended to our many other dear friends,” he said.

“Justice Thomas and Ginni never asked for this hospitality. We have never asked about a pending or lower court case, and Judge Thomas has never discussed one, and we have never tried to influence Judge Thomas on legal or political issues. More generally, I am not aware that any of our friends have ever lobbied or tried to influence Judge Thomas on any case, and I would never invite anyone who I believe had the intention of doing so, he continued.

He called the trips “gatherings of friends.”