A National Review writer who defended Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for not disclosing his lavish vacations with billionaire Harlan Crow is now having his own ethics attacked.
That’s because his opinion article failed to mention that he had gone on many of the same excursions that have led to the scandal over Thomas’ failure to disclose the trips hosted by the businessman and his possible conflicts of interest.
Mark Paoletta posted the piece Thursday on the conservative National Review’s website under the headline “Justice Thomas Acted Properly and Was Not Required to Disclose His Trips.”
In the article, Paoletta, who was general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget during the Trump administration, claims that Thomas did everything properly when it comes to disclosure, even though the allegations were considered serious enough to have them referred to a federal panel that oversees financial disclosure laws.
Although Paoletta’s article notes that he is friends with Thomas, worked on his 1991 Senate confirmation, co-edited a book on him and represented Ginni Thomas in the House select committee’s Jan. 6 investigation, there is one thing he didn’t disclose that is putting him on the social media hot seat.
Paoletta didn’t mention that he was on the same trips with Thomas and Crow that raised eyebrows when ProPublica wrote about them earlier this month.
So a funny thing happened when he posted the op-ed on Twitter: A lot of people showed up with receipts.
Paoletta’s tweet did inspire one person to make a wish.
HuffPost reached out to Paoletta for comment, but he did not immediately respond.