Opinion: Why didn’t the House Judiciary Committee look into the warning signs about Clarence Thomas?

Editor’s Note: Dean Obeidallah, a former lawyer, is the host of the daily SiriusXM radio show “The Dean Obeidallah Show.” Follow him @[email protected]. The opinions expressed in this commentary are their own. See more comments on CNN.

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On Monday, the GOP-controlled House Judiciary Committee – chaired by Representative Jim Jordan, an ally of Donald Trump – will host a hearing in New York City entitled “Victims of Violent Crime in Manhattan.” Statement The Judiciary Committee said the hearing was seen as an examination of whether the policies of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had “resulted in an increase in violent crime and a dangerous community for City residents.” What is New York like?”

In response, Bragg’s office slammed Jordan’s hearing as “a political stunt” while noting that data released by the New York Police Department shows a decrease in crime in Manhattan for homicides, thefts, robberies, etc., as of April 2, compared with the same period a year last.

In fact, this Jordan-led hearing is not about preventing crime but about protecting Trump, who was recently impeached by a Manhattan grand jury. 34 felonies. Trump pleaded not guilty to criminal charges stemming from an investigation into a hush payment to an adult film actress. The former president is also facing criminal investigations in other jurisdictions about efforts to overturn the 2020 election And handling confidential documents at Mar-a-Lago.

Bragg sues Jordan and his committee last week in federal court, accusing the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of a “Transparent campaign for intimidation and attackhis office to investigate and prosecute Trump by making a request for confidential documents and testimony.

While Jordan and his committee appeared focused on discredit the investigation into Trump, why don’t they consider two bombshell report of ProPublica raised a red flag about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ financial relationship with major GOP sponsor Harlan Crow? After all, the House Judiciary Committee website explains that it has jurisdiction over “issues relating to the administration of justice in federal courts” – to which the disclosures regarding Thomas are entirely consistent.

First, in early April, we learned that Crow had been supplying Thomas and his wife, Ginni, for decades. luxury vacation including above Sponsor’s yacht and private jet to places as far away as Indonesia and New Zealand. That information is never released to the public. (In a rare public statement, Thomas replied he was advised at the time that he did not need to report trips. Justice said guidelines for reporting personal hospitality recently changed. “And, of course, it is my intention to follow this guideline in the future,” he said.)

Then on Thursday, ProPublica reported that Thomas undisclosed a 2014 real estate deal involving the sale of three properties he and his family own in Savannah, Georgia, to the same major GOP sponsor, Crow. According to ProPublica, one of Crow’s companies bought it for $133,363. Federal Disclosure Act passed after Watergate asked Supreme Court justices and other officials to make public details of most real estate purchases over $1,000.

EQUAL ProPublica details, the federal disclosure form Thomas filed for that year included a space to report the identity of the buyer in any individual transactions, but Thomas left that space blank. four Ethical law experts told ProPublica that Thomas’s failure to report it appeared to be breaking the law. (Thomas did not respond to questions from ProPublica about his report; CNN has reached out to the Supreme Court and Thomas for comment.)

The House Judiciary Committee has long dealt with issues like those surrounding Thomas. In fact, the commission is the place to investigate and impeachment of federal judges usually begins.

A recent example was in 2010 with Judge G. Thomas Portous Jr.whom the committee investigates and recommends for impeachment.

Committee Task Force on Judicial Impeachment says evidence that Porteous “willfully made statements and misrepresented material facts under penalty of perjury, engaged in a corrupt kickback scheme, solicited and received illegal gifts , while deliberately misleading the Senate in its confirmation process.” The Senate then find Portous guilty belong to four articles of impeachment and remove him from the bench.

However, the Judiciary Committee did not release statement neither tweets sounded the alarm about Thomas. Instead, its Twitter feed is filled with repeated tweets whine that C-SPAN will not include Hearing in New York on Monday. Worse still, the committee retweeted GOP Rep. Mary Miller’s tweet defended Thomas from being attacked “because he was a man of deep faith who loved our country and believed in our Constitution.”

Jordan’s use of his committee to support Trump should come as no surprise to anyone. The House of Representatives’ January 6 committee report called the Ohio Republicans “someone who played a key role in President Trump’s efforts” to overturn the election. Report details lawmakers’ efforts to support Trump include on “January 2, 2021, Representative of Jordan takes the lead a conference call in which he, President Trump, and other Members of Congress discussed strategies to delay the January 6 joint session.” Therefore, the committee on 6 January summoned Jordan to testify – but He refuses cooperate.

In contrast to the House panel, the Senate Judiciary Committee – headed by Democrats – announced following a report on Thomas that they plan to hold a hearing “on the need to restore confidence in the Supreme Court’s ethical standards.” Additionally, Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Representative Hank Johnson of Georgia sent a letter calling on friday for referring Thomas to the U.S. attorney general for “potential violations of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978.”

House Judiciary Committee website note, “The Judiciary Committee has been called the House counsel.” Under Jordan, that description needed to be updated to state that the Judiciary Committee is now “Donald J. Trump’s attorney.” And the worst part is that the taxpayers are the ones paying for Jordan’s work on behalf of Trump.