Mitt Romney reacts to Clarence Thomas financial disclosure flap : ‘It stinks’
Emily Jacobs
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Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) expressed his distaste when asked Monday evening to respond to reports that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas did not disclose decades of trips and gifts from a GOP megadonor.
Thomas has faced scrutiny in recent weeks over a series of reports that revealed his fraternal relationship with Harlan Crow, a Republican donor who paid for trips and purchased property from the associate justice. He defended his actions earlier this month by claiming that he “was advised” that he did not have to disclose the trips.
GOP DONOR HARLAN CROW SAYS CLARENCE THOMAS IS FACING A ‘POLITICAL HIT JOB’
The reports also uncovered the justice’s sale of three Georgia properties to Crow in 2014, two of which were vacant lots that Crow later developed and one being the house where Thomas’s mother, Leola Williams, still lives. Williams resides there rent-free, though she is responsible for paying insurance and property taxes.
The Senate has been in recess since the reports came out, allowing Republicans to avoid questions on the matter until the body reconvened on Monday.
“If the reports are accurate, it stinks,” Romney told reporters from the Capitol on Monday evening.
The Utah senator declined to elaborate when pressed about if he would back Democratic legislation implementing an ethics code for Supreme Court justices, saying, “I don’t have to explain more than that.”
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, has repeatedly vowed that the panel “will act” in response to the reports, and Democrats have requested that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts investigate the matter.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee met Monday evening in Durbin’s office to discuss next steps, which one lawmaker said afterward would include hearings on Thomas’s ethics concerns.
“We’re going to have hearings — this work period, I hope, maybe even in the next few weeks,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who serves on the committee, told reporters after the meeting, adding that the justice’s behavior was “high on the list” of topics discussed that evening.
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“What he did is really unprecedented, the magnitude of the gifts and luxury travel,” he continued, “the money changing hands and the nondisclosure.”
Judiciary Democrats also reportedly discussed calling Thomas to testify at said hearings.