Continuing with the high-tech lynching of conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas first launched during his confirmation hearings in 1991, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today show picked at the red meat thrown by left-wing ProPublica at the liberal media on supposed ethics violations on Thursday. Meanwhile, they showed no interest in a new bombshell report that liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor presided over cases that involved her book publisher who paid her $3.6 million.
“We're going to turn to the new report on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and payments he allegedly accepted from a GOP mega-donor,” announced Good Morning America co-anchor and former Clinton flack George Stephanopoulos.
Even though the supposed scandal was basically that Thomas spent time with longtime friend Harlan Crow, ABC’s Elizabeth Schulze clutched her pearls about the new ProPublica hit piece. “This is the latest in a series of stunning allegations that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepted big financial gifts from a prominent Republican donor without properly disclosing them,” she whined.
This time, the accusation was that Crow helped pay for the education of Thomas’s grand-nephew. But the kicker was that they can’t confirm a dollar amount and just spitballed a six-figure total. “The total amount paid isn't known but payments were made to two separate schools and could have exceeded $150,000,” Schulze proclaimed, without evidence.
“But no doubt about it, there are growing calls for more transparency of the court here. All nine justices have rejected an independent oversight call,” she lamented as Stephanopoulos anticipated “This is going to increase the pressure.”
Not to be outdone in covering political influence peddling, NBC put nepo baby and senior legal analyst Laura Jarrett (the daughter of longtime Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett) on the story. She and co-anchor Craig Melvin said the quiet part out loud as they openly discussed the possibility of impeaching Thomas:
MELVIN: Any recourse?
JERRETT: No. Recourse is impeachment, which they do not have the votes for and clearly not going to happen given this political environment.
Notice all this supposed concern about the ethics of the court and the calls for transparency and accountability. There was none of that when it came to a bombshell report from The Daily Wire’s ace investigative reporter (and 2022 MRC Bulldog Award winner), Luke Rosiak, who uncovered Sotomayor’s transgressions.
According to Rosiak’s findings, “Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor declined to recuse herself from multiple copyright infringement cases involving book publisher Penguin Random House despite having been paid millions by the firm for her books, making it by far her largest source of income, records show.”
After receiving $1.2 million from them in 2010 and $1.9 million in 2012, she refused to recuse herself from a 2013 case against her publisher, Aaron Greenspan v. Random House, “despite then-fellow Justice Stephen Breyer recusing after also receiving money from the publisher.”
The double standard in judicial ethics pearl clutching was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Expedia on ABC and Liberty Mutual on NBC. Their contact information is linked.
The transcripts are below click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
May 4, 2023
8:05:07 a.m. EasternGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: We're going to turn to the new report on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and payments he allegedly accepted from a GOP mega donor. Elizabeth Schulze is tracking the latest. Good morning Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH SCHULZE: Good morning, George. This is the latest in a series of stunning allegations that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepted big financial gifts from a prominent Republican donor without properly disclosing them. ProPublica reports this morning the GOP billionaire donor Harlan Crow paid for private school tuition for Clarence Thomas grandnephew who Thomas was raising as a son since the late 1990s.
The total amount paid isn't known but payments were made to two separate schools and could have exceeded $150,000. The report says Thomas did not disclose those tuition payments on his annual disclosures.
In a statement to ProPublica, Crow's office says that, “Harlan crow has been passionate about the importance of quality education, giving back to the less fortunate. Especially at-risk youth.” But ProPublica has alleged a series of previously undisclosed financial ties between Thomas and Crow from luxury vacations to real estate deals.
Thomas previously called Crow a dear friend. He hasn't yet commented on this latest report. But no doubt about it, there are growing calls for more transparency of the court here. All nine justices have rejected an independent oversight call. George?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Yeah. They have been resisting but this is going to increase the pressure. Okay Elizabeth. Thanks very much.
NBC’s TODAY
May 4, 2023
7:11:12 a.m. EasternCRAIG MELVIN: Also this morning, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is facing controversy once again over more possible ethics violations. A new report from ProPublica alleges a billionaire Republican donor paid for Thomas's grand nephew's private school. The news organization previously reported that the same man, Harlan Crow, also took the Thomas family on lavish vacations. Let's bring in NBC's senior legal correspondent, Laura Jarrett. So, Laura, what more do we know about these new allegations against Clarence Thomas?
LAURA JERRETT: So, according to this new report, he, Harlan Crow, this wealthy Republican donor is making a series of tuition payments for Thomas's grand-nephew, who Thomas was raising as a son. We don't know the exact dollar amount, but according to ProPublica, it could have been to the tune of $150,000.
Now, generally, justices are supposed to disclose all financial ties and gifts, especially expensive ones like this. But according to this report, Thomas did not disclose gifts from Crow. However, the most interesting part of this, guys, he did disclose at least one tuition payment that someone else -- a separate payment that someone else made for this same grand-nephew. And so, the question is, why didn’t he disclose this one from Crow?
HODA KOTB: He's basically saying, he knew he should disclose some things, so why that one and not this one. So, is he saying anything? Is Harlan saying anything?
JERRETT: So, the Justice has not said anything. The court is not saying anything. I reached out. Crow actually did put out a statement, essentially saying that he's been passionate about education issues, the importance of education, giving back to those less fortunate. He basically called this a political hit job. He's been critical of ProPublica's reporting on he and Thomas's relationship in the past. In the past, Thomas has actually said he relied on others for advice about what he was supposed to disclose or not. Unclear whether he'll saying anything about this latest report.
But again, the larger context here is that this is a series of gifts made from the same man. The yachets. The private jet rides. And remember, Supreme Court justices do not have an ethics code. And so, this is why you hear this sort of, you now, clamoring for them to be treated just like every other federal judge.
MELVIN: Any recourse?
JERRETT: No. Recourse is impeachment, which they do not have the votes for and clearly not going to happen given this political environment.
MELVIN: All right. Our senior legal correspondent, Laura Jarrett. Laura, thank you.
KTOB: Thank you, Laura.
