Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is calling for the investigation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas over reports of him receiving funding from a billionaire Republican donor.
During an interview on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki,” Sanders urged the Department of Justice to begin investigating Thomas for failing to disclose his close friendship with billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow.
“Some of what we are reading about in terms of Thomas is really quite outrageous, and I think it needs to be investigated,” the Independent senator told Psaki.
The former White House press secretary then noted that “a number of colleagues of yours in the House, and in the Senate too, have call – have said he should be impeached. Do you think that if wrongdoing is found, he should be impeached?”
“Well, I think the first thing you wanna do before you impeach somebody is investigate the situation,” Sanders responded. “And I think that is what the Department of Justice should be doing.”
Democrats have been outraged by Thomas because of his wife’s involvement in conservative politics and, most recently, a report from ProPublica that alleged the justice had accepted expensive gifts from a GOP mega-donor without disclosing them.
Thomas’ longstanding relationship with Crow reportedly gave him access to a number of benefits, including free stays on Crow’s vast vacation property and the opportunity to travel in style with the Texas millionaire on his yacht and private plane.
In response to the allegations, Thomas released a statement on Friday describing Harlan and Kathy Crow as “among our dearest friends.”
“As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips during the more than quarter century we have known them,” the justice said. “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 ProPublica exposé prompted several Democratic lawmakers to demand that Congress impose a rigorous code of ethics on the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threatened to impeach Thomas if no other Democrat did.
“Congress is out of session for the next week. And so that does give Democrats some time to strategize, and the way I feel about it is that, I do think articles need to be introduced,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
