The head of a Senate panel that investigates Clarence Thomas on Monday that the judge of the Supreme Court had not revealed additional trips in Jet Private.
In a letter to a lawyer from the conservative Megadonor Harlan Crow, Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
Wyden, who presides over the Senate Finance Committee, said the finding intensified his concerns that Crow was involved in a scheme to avoid paying taxes.
“I am deeply concerned that Mr. Crow has been bathing a public official with extravagant gifts, then discarding those gifts to reduce his tax bill,” Wyden wrote.
The letter, which also cited reports from Thomas’ trips to Greece, the Caribbean, Russia and the Baltic, is the last of a series of accusations of the Senate Democrats about trips not revealed by Thomas. The Senate Judicial Committee published records in June that show other unleashed trips.
In a statement on Monday, Crow’s office accused Wyden of “abusing” the power of his panel in what he called a political campaign against the Supreme Court. The Crow Office added that their lawyers “have already been addressed to the consultations of Senator Wyden, who have no legal basis and only intend to harass a private citizen.”
“Mr. Crow and his businesses are in good position with the IRS. He has always followed the applicable fiscal law as advised by the national accounting firms that serve as fiscal advisors,” said his office.
A Thomas lawyer and a spokesman for the Supreme Court did not immediately respond to requests for comments on Monday.
Thomas recognized a couple of trips in 2019 with Crow in his annual financial dissemination report in June.
The Judiciary has updated its dissemination rules to make it clear that private Jet trips must be reported.
Thomas’s lawyer, Elliot S. Berke, said in June that a provision of the Judicial Conference allowed an exemption from personal hospitality and that Thomas “has fully complied with the new dissemination requirement.”
The Supreme Court has had a growing internal and external pressure to develop a code of ethics required for judges. President Joe Biden recently supported the changes that involve mandate and ethics limits for the judges, while the conservative judge Neil Gorsuch warned that Biden must “be careful” with the changes he is supporting.
