Dick Durbin calls out Thomas for hiding gifts, citing a ‘conflict of interest’!

Hold on to your hats, folks! Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) has just made some explosive comments about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. According to Durbin, Thomas’s undisclosed gifts and trips from GOP donor Harlan Crow show a “conflict of interest.”

But that’s not all. The Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman went on to say that if Thomas were a judge on a circuit court, it would be a violation of law. Wow! Durbin made these comments while speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.

But wait, there’s more!

“If this were another judge, if this were a member of Congress, and it happened that some Texas billionaire came in and said, I’m going to buy your mom’s house and the houses nearby and own this so she doesn’t have to pay rent or a mortgage payment. You’d say to yourself, ‘Well, that’s obvious.’ That’s the sort of thing that needs to be disclosed. That’s a clear indication of a conflict of interest, and it should be raised,” Durbin said.

Durbin is also pushing for the high court to be subject to a code of conduct, which would require “timely disclosures” and recusal when there are conflicts of interest.

The Illinois Democrat is not stopping there. He is still waiting on an “official response” from Chief Justice John Roberts to testify before the Senate regarding ethics. Durbin says that a response to the invitation saying it had been forwarded to the judicial conference’s Committee on Financial Disclosure was not a sufficient answer.

Don’t miss out on the latest news from the Washington Examiner!

Thomas has defended himself on the allegations regarding trips he went on with his friend Harlan Crow, who is a Dallas-based real estate developer and GOP donor. Thomas says he “sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the court, was not reportable.”

But that’s not the end of it. Thomas has not commented on newer allegations that he did not disclose a real estate transaction with Crow. Stay tuned for more updates!