‘There Are No Rules!’ Joe Scarborough Bashes Conservatives Defending Clarence Thomas After New Report Drops
Joe Scarborough cast a shadow over Clarence Thomas’ legacy in light of news that the Supreme Court justice received more of Harlan Crow’s generosity than previously known.
Morning Joe spoke on Thursday with Justin Elliot, one of the ProPublica reporters who co-authored their new story about Thomas’ nephew, Mark Martin. The outlet notes Thomas previously declared he was raising Martin “as a son” ever since he took custody of him when he was a child.
ProPublica reported that in 2008, Thomas sent the teenage Martin to Hidden Lake Academy, a private boarding school in Georgia with a tuition of $6,000 per month. After examining bank records and speaking with a school administrator, ProPublica learned that Crow covered Martin’s bill at Hidden Lake, and they were told Crow paid for the other boarding school Martin attended before that.
From the report:
The exact total Crow paid for Martin’s education over the years remains unclear. If he paid for all four years at the two schools, the price tag could have exceeded $150,000, according to public records of tuition rates at the schools.
Thomas did not report the tuition payments from Crow on his annual financial disclosures. Several years earlier, Thomas disclosed a gift of $5,000 for Martin’s education from another friend. It is not clear why he reported that payment but not Crow’s.
The development comes after ProPublica’s last deep dive into Thomas’ relationship with Crow, which not only explored how the real estate billionaire bankrolled Thomas’ family throughout the years, but also Thomas’ failure to disclose Crow’s largesse. In Scarborough’s conversation with Elliot, he invited the reporter to respond to those who’ve dismissed the reporting as a left-wing media attack on the conservative justice.
“We just haven’t found anything like this relationship between Crow and Thomas with any of the other justices at this point,” Elliot said. “We’re talking out a billionaire political donor who is funding multiple aspects of the life of a justice.”
As Mika Brzezinski juxtaposed Thomas’ renewed ethical concerns with his wife’s antics, Scarborough added, “this has been a horrible two years and a half years for Justice Thomas’ legacy.”
“And for Republicans who are trying to dismiss this, I can’t even begin to imagine what would happen if it were just Justice Sotomayor. If it was Justice Kagen,” Scarborough continued. “There are no rules, it appears. There is nothing that people on the Trump-right can do that is going to get condemnation from most Republicans. Again, I can’t even imagine if any federal judge that I practiced under had taken 1/100th of these gifts. I can’t imagine they wouldn’t be up for impeachment.
Watch above via MSNBC.
