If Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is talking, there’s a good chance she’s getting herself in trouble.
And her latest rant about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was no exception.
But it only took a few minutes for Thomas to throw a bucket full of cold water on the hot scandal about his family that Ocasio-Cortez was pushing.
The political Left has made it abundantly apparent that Justice Thomas and his wife, Ginny, are persona non grata within Washington D.C. circles.
And the idea that they might have a healthy personal life is nearly inconceivable.
So, when the left-wing ProPublica website started pushing a new smear campaign as an excuse to impeach Clarence Thomas, Ocasio-Cortez latched right on.
“This is beyond party or partisanship. This degree of corruption is shocking – almost cartoonish,’ Ocasio-Cortez claimed. “Thomas must be impeached. Barring some dramatic change, this is what the Roberts court will be known for: rank corruption, erosion of democracy, and the stripping of human rights.”
Clarence Thomas’ unforgivable misstep? Going on vacation with friends.
The controversy cooked up by ProPublica is an example of one of the oldest tricks in the book: twist something that happened into a fake controversy in order to delegitimize a political foe.
ProPublica attacked Thomas claiming that he failed to disclose that his family has taken vacations with conservative donor Harlan Crow’s family—and used Crow’s private jet to get there.
Without any real evidence of how that created a conflict of interest, ProPublica’s underlying claim was that Thomas is a corrupt justice conservatives are buying off.
Thomas fired back pointing out that at the time the trips in question took place justices were not required to disclose personal hospitality.
“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,” Justice Thomas noted. “I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.”
“Harlan and Kathy Crow are among our dearest friends, and we have been friends for over 25 years,” he added. “As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips during the more than quarter-century we have known them.”
Thomas also pointed out that ProPublica was trying to use a new change in guidelines to create a massive scandal that doesn’t stand up when tested.
The Justice noted that the Judicial Conference did change reporting guidelines in March and personal hospitality will now become a reportable gift.
“These guidelines are now being changed, as the committee of the Judicial Conference responsible for financial disclosure for the entire judiciary just this past month announced new guidance. And, it is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future,” Justice Thomas explained.
In other words, ProPublica’s claims of corruption are completely false since Thomas was never required to report personal hospitality travel in the first place.
No doubt, Democrats are already poking around for something else they can find to continue to attack the legitimacy of the Supreme Court in hopes of someday controlling every branch of the United States government.
Political Animal News will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
