Democratic senator uncovers Judge Thomas’ next trip paid for by GOP donor

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has come under increasing scrutiny for failing to disclose personal travel covered by a wealthy GOP donor’s insurance. File photo by Eric Lee/UPI | Licensed photo

August 6 (UPI) — Clarence Thomas continues to hide the fact that his foreign trips were paid for by a wealthy Republican donor, a top Democratic senator said, while revealing a previously undisclosed trip the Supreme Court justice and his wife took more than a decade ago on Harlan Crow’s private jet.

Citing U.S. Customs and Border Protection records, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon wrote in a letter Monday that Thomas and his wife, conservative activist Ginni Thomas, flew round-trip on Crow’s private jet from Hawaii to New Zealand in November 2010.

The letter was sent to Crow’s lawyers demanding their client’s financial and travel records to see if Thomas’s private travel was being used to avoid paying taxes.

“I am deeply concerned that Mr. Crow would give extravagant gifts to a public official and then write off those gifts to reduce his tax bill,” Wyden said.

As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Wyden is investigating Thomas and Crow for tax evasion and impropriety after it was revealed last August that the Supreme Court justice had accepted dozens of lavish and undisclosed vacations and gifts sponsored by Crow and other benefactors.

Wyden, in his letter, accused Crow’s lawyers of avoiding his earlier requests for information and documentation regarding “all travel” Thomas had undertaken on his own or client-chartered jets and yachts in the context of “personal hospitality.”

“It shouldn’t be difficult to answer these questions,” he said. “The possibility that Mr. Crow could give secret gifts to a sitting Supreme Court justice and then, with impunity, reduce his taxable income by millions of dollars requires legislative scrutiny.”

Wyden said he is trying to understand the nature and scope of Crow’s undisclosed generosity to Thomas to help his committee craft Supreme Court legislation.

Thomas’ ethical conduct and his relationship with the wealthy donor have come under increasing scrutiny since it was revealed last August that he had accepted dozens of lavish and undisclosed vacation and gift offers implicated in the Crow scandal.

Public attention has also focused on the ethics of the Supreme Court, which last week asked President Joe Biden to propose sweeping changes to the justices’ work, including term limits and a binding code of ethics to limit conflicts of interest.

Justices are expected to voluntarily disclose gifts and trips, though Thomas has said the ones he has not publicly disclosed fall under “personal hospitality” because they come from close friends who are not involved in court cases.

Wyden’s letter said he was trying to determine whether Crow used these “personal hospitality trips” to deduct millions of dollars on his taxes.

In the wake of the scandal, Thomas updated his annual income forms, but Wyden says he and Crow still haven’t given him the full information.