Media outlet ProPublica's latest attack on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, claiming Thomas did not disclose that billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow paid the tuition for Thomas' great-nephew to attend two private schools, is being downplayed by Crow.
A statement by Crow's office to NBC News on Thursday indicated Crow never directly gave Thomas money to pay the tuition for Mark Martin, of whom Thomas had taken legal custody when Mark was 6, at private schools in Georgia and Virginia.
It said Crow and his wife, Kathy, have "long been passionate about giving back to those less fortunate, especially at-risk youth" and that they have supported many through scholarships and other programs at a number of schools.
"Tuition and other financial assistance is given directly to academic institutions, not to students or to their families," Crow's office said. "These scholarships and other contributions have always been paid solely from personal funds, sometimes held at and paid through the family business.
"It's disappointing that those with partisan political interests would try to turn helping at-risk youth with tuition assistance into something nefarious or political."
Mark Paoletta, a friend of Thomas', a former official in the Trump and George W. Bush administrations, and a former attorney for Thomas' wife, Ginni, confirmed in a tweet Thursday that Crow's tuition payments for the school in Georgia, Randolph-Macon Academy, where Crow also attended, were made directly to the school.
"Justice Thomas was not required to disclose the tuition payments made directly to Randolph Macon and the Georgia school on behalf of his great nephew because the definition of a 'dependent child' under the Ethics in Government Act (5 U.S.C. 13101 (2)) does not include a 'great nephew.'
"It is limited to a 'son, daughter, stepson or stepdaughter.' Justice Thomas never asked Harlan Crow to pay for his great nephew's tuition. And neither Harlan Crow, nor his company, had any business before the Supreme Court."
Previous allegations were made by ProPublica that Thomas never reported money from the sale of three family-owned properties to Crow, valued at more than $100,000, and that Thomas took trips with the billionaire during the past 20 years for which Crow paid.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Newsmax on Wednesday such reports are part of a concerted effort by the mainstream media to discredit the Supreme Court's conservative majority.
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