Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas confirmed Friday he had repeatedly accepted travel from a wealthy GOP donor over more than two decades of friendship, but added that he did not have to report the gifts on annual financial disclosure forms.
Thomas has come under fire since ProPublica reported Thursday that the 74-year-old had often traveled aboard Harlan Crow’s superyacht and personal jet — even vacationing at the billionaire’s private resort in the Adirondacks.
“Harlan and Kathy Crow are among our dearest friends, and we have been friends for over twenty-five years. As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips during the more than quarter century we have known them,” Thomas, 74, wrote.
“Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable.”
The conservative justice explained that the guidelines on reportable gifts changed last month — and that he plans “to follow this guidance in the future.”
Clarence Thomas admits he and wife took trips with GOP donor Harlan Crow: ‘As friends do’
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