Judge of the Supreme Court Clarence Thomas received additional secret travel from a Republican megadonor that was not included in his financial disclosure forms, according to documents released Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, released data on private jet travel gifts provided by Thomas’ billionaire friend, Harlan Crow, including plane trips in 2017, 2019 and 2021.
“As a result of our investigation and subpoena, we are providing greater clarity to the American public about the extent of the Supreme Court justices’ ethical lapses and the need for ethics reform,” Durbin said in a statement.
The documents were released a day after Republicans blocked Democrats’ attempt to approve Supreme Court ethics legislation that the committee advanced nearly a year ago.
In a statement Thursday, Crow’s office said he had reached an agreement with the Judiciary Committee to provide information dating back seven years.
“Despite his serious and ongoing concerns about the legality and necessity of the investigation, Mr. Crow has cooperated with the committee in good faith,” his office said. “As a condition of this agreement, the committee has agreed to terminate the investigation into Mr. Crow.”
A spokesman for Durbin told NBC News in a statement that the committee had “reached an agreement with Mr. Crow on information and materials sufficient to satisfy the committee’s request and authorization of the subpoena.”
An attorney for Thomas defended his disclosure practices.
“The information Harlan Crow provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee fell under the ‘personal hospitality exemption’ and was not required to be disclosed by Judge Thomas,” attorney Elliot S. Berke said in a statement Thursday, adding that the judicial Conference – the Administrative Office of the United States Courts – “changed this provision last year and Judge Thomas has fully complied with the new disclosure requirement.”
Thomas last week acknowledged a pair of 2019 trips with Crow in his annual financial disclosure report that match trips ProPublica reported last year.
Berke’s response echoed Thomas’ statement last year, in which he referred to the secret trip as “personal hospitality of close personal friends,” and not as business.
Democrats on the Judiciary Committee on Thursday cited a statute outlining financial disclosure requirements for federal employees, stating that “food, lodging, or entertainment received as personal hospitality of an individual is not required to be reported,” while arguing that the law requires trips to be disclosed as gifts They said they planned to release a report this summer on their investigation into the Supreme Court’s ethics.
A spokesperson for the Supreme Court did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment about the travel data released by the commission.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
