Washington
CNN
—
New York’s Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday reiterated her call to impeach Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas after revelations that he did not disclose several luxury trips provided by a Republican megadonor.
In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union,” Ocasio-Cortez called for an investigation into the matter, saying it was “the House’s responsibility to pursue that investigation in the form of impeachment.”
“I believe we should continue the study. If Republicans decide to protect lawbreakers, they are responsible for that decision,” he said of the House GOP majority, which is unlikely to pursue such an investigation. But we shouldn’t be complicit.
Ocasio-Cortez called for Thomas’ impeachment on Twitter Thursday, following a bombshell ProPublica report that detailed travel paid for by Republican donor Harlan Crowe, which included the donor’s yacht and private jet trips.
Thomas said Friday that he did not disclose the luxury trip because he was advised at the time by “colleagues and others in the judiciary” that he did not have to report it.
In a rare statement sent by the Supreme Court’s Office of Public Information, Thomas and his wife, conservative activist Ginny Thomas, said the trips with the Crows were “private hospitality from close personal friends.” Disclosure required.
Ocasio-Cortez called the trips “a very, very serious problem” and Chief Justice John Roberts said “if this kind of egregious corruption is allowed and allowed to happen in this court, it should come forward now.”
“When it comes to Judge Thomas’ statement, when he talks about his colleagues, when he talks about who advised him to break the law, I think we need to know who those people are,” he said.
Two dozen Democratic lawmakers from both chambers sent a letter to Roberts on Friday calling for a “prompt, thorough, independent and transparent investigation” into whether Thomas’ travels violated ethics and laws.
But Ocasio-Cortez said she doesn’t believe the Supreme Court will conduct an internal investigation, saying “what we’re seeing now is a violation of the law.”
The ProPublica report describes Thomas accepting travel hospitality from Crowe that included lavish trips to Indonesia, New Zealand, California, Texas and Georgia. Some of the trips are said to have sailed on Crowe’s superyacht or stayed at properties owned by Crowe or his company.
This story has been updated with additional information.
