U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has just accused Ginni Thomas, the conservative activist and the wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, of tax violations and fraud.
According to Mediaite, Whitehouse made the allegations during an appearance Friday on MSNBC's All In.
Before we take a look at what Whitehouse had to say, some context is necessary.
His comments follow a recent report from the Washington Post, titled, Judicial activist directed fees to Clarence Thomas's wife, urged "no mention of Ginni."
In its report, the Post states that Ginni Thomas was paid tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work that was set up by Leonard Leo, the conservative activist.
Per the Post:
Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo arranged for the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be paid tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work just over a decade ago, specifying that her name be left off billing paperwork, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post.
The Post also tries to draw a connection between the entities who paid Ginni Thomas money and cases that came before Justice Thomas and other members of the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Post, for example, reports:
The arrangement reveals that Leo, a longtime Federalist Society leader and friend of the Thomases, has functioned not only as an ideological ally of Clarence Thomas’s but also has worked to provide financial remuneration to his family.And it shows Leo arranging for the money to be drawn from a nonprofit that soon would have an interest before the court.
During his MSNBC appearance, Sheldon argued that the Post's reporting may suggest that one or more crimes have been committed.
"All the mischief with Leo and these phony front groups, all of that is potentially in violation of the tax code. Some of it is conceivably even fraud," Sheldon said.
He added, "There could be potentially criminal aspects to this, particularly if no work is performed for the $25,000."
Although neither Justice Thomas nor Ginni Thomas has responded to the Post's report, Leo has.
In a statement, Leo said:
It is no secret that Ginni Thomas has a long history of working on issues within the conservative movement, and part of that work has involved gauging public attitudes and sentiment. The work she did here did not involve anything connected with either the Court’s business or with other legal issues,
It remains to be seen how this will play out. This comes as Justice Thomas is facing intense criticism from the Democrats following reports of his relationship with GOP donor Harlan Crow.
