MSNBC’s Ari Melber is putting Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on blast amid new revelations that he and his wife, Ginni, accepted even more gifts from wealthy benefactors than previously known.
“Do you think you’re above the law?” he asked on Thursday night. “Do you think you will get away with this forever?”
Thomas was already mired in an ethics scandal involving undeclared gifts from billionaire Harlan Crow when two new stories broke on Thursday.
First, ProPublica reported that Crow also paid the $6,000-a-month tuition bill for Thomas’ grandnephew Mark Martin to attend a private boarding school in Georgia.
Then The Washington Post reported that conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo paid Ginni Thomas tens of thousands of dollars in consulting fees but wanted her name left off the paperwork.
“No mention of Ginni, of course,” Leo said in directing the payments, according to the report.
In previous revelations, ProPublica found that the Thomases enjoyed luxury vacations “virtually every year” that included private jets, superyachts and exclusive resorts, with expenses footed by Crow.
But Melber played footage from a documentary in which the Supreme Court justice says he likes “RV parks” and “Walmart parking lots” for his travel.
“I come from regular stock, and I prefer that ― I prefer being around that,” Thomas said.
“No you don’t,” Melber fired back. “Why were you lying about it? Were you feeling guilty? Were you also lying to your colleagues on the Supreme Court?”
See more from his Thursday night show: