Welcome to the Checks & Imbalances newsletter. Today, we look at Ginni Thomas’ political donations and who has been popping up at Mar-a-Lago.
Ginni Thomas Donated $15,000 To GOP Campaigns, Including Trump’s
The spouse of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Ginni Thomas, has contributed at least $15,000 to Republican political committees, according to federal and state records.
Her conservative activism, including work to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and attendance at the January 6 rally that segued into the riots at the Capitol, has raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest for her husband. Thomas has donated at least $13,000 in support of Republicans running for national office, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Former President Donald Trump’s campaign apparatus took in $2,100 from Thomas, $290 of which came while Trump was president. Ginni Thomas and a spokesperson for the Supreme Court did not immediately respond to inquiries. (The Supreme Court justice was admitted to the hospital Friday night with an infection.)
Clarence Thomas was the sole dissenting vote in the Supreme Court’s ruling last month rejecting Trump’s attempt to block the House Select Committee from obtaining his records regarding January 6.
The congressional campaigns Thomas has supported tend to be for some of the most-conservative Republicans. In October 2020, she contributed $1,000 to the House Freedom Caucus’s PAC, which backed incumbents that year like Mo Brooks, Louie Gohmert and Paul Gosar, as well as challengers Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Thomas also pitched in $1,000 in support of Paul Nehlen’s unsuccessful 2016 attempt to primary then-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), $500 of which came just days after Nehlen said, “The question is, why do we have Muslims in the country?” during a radio interview.
A resident of Virginia, Thomas contributed another $2,000 to Republicans running for statewide office there between 2016 and 2019, according to government data presented by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project. Thomas also donated a total of $750 to Republican contestants for state senate seats in Texas and Wisconsin. And in 2010, she donated $500 to John Eastman’s campaign for attorney general of California. He lost, but would go on to be an ally of hers a decade later in their attempt to overturn a presidential election.
“There are no laws against Ginni Thomas or really any Supreme Court spouse or anyone on the Supreme Court from donating to political candidates,” said Gabe Roth, executive director of the nonpartisan Fix The Court, which aims to make federal courts more open and accountable. “Ginni Thomas is perfectly capable of having her own life,” he said. “But if you are married to a Supreme Court justice, what you do rubs off on him.”
Thomas also serves on the board of C.N.P. Action, the political advocacy arm of the right-wing Council for National Policy, according to an agenda from the group’s February 2022 meeting obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy. The council pushed Republican state lawmakers to appoint fake electors and challenge the Electoral College result, the New York Times reported last month.
Combined, the other six Supreme Court spouses have contributed about $7,500 to federal campaigns, most of which came from Stephen Breyer’s wife, Joanna, who donated $6,700 to Democrats. The husband of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, Patrick Jackson, donated a total of $3,500 to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Within months of Jackson contributing $1,700 to Obama in 2012, the president nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to become a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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Tracking Trump
The Republican Party of Palm Beach County returned to Mar-a-Lago on Friday for its 2022 Lincoln Day dinner. Special guests at the sold-out event included Florida Republicans Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, Reps. Byron Donalds and Brian Mast, and state Attorney General Ashley Moody. Also in attendance was Mehmet Oz, the TV personality running for Senate in Pennsylvania. The club’s resident-in-chief made an appearance too.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) dined at Mar-a-Lago with the former president as Thomas DeVore, a candidate for attorney general in Illinois, and Newsmax’s Mark Vargas looked on.
On Thursday, Vernon Jones held a campaign fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago that featured remarks from Trump. Jones is running for Congress after dropping out of Georgia’s gubernatorial race to clear the field for David Perdue, at Trump’s urging. Trump has endorsed Jones.
Cory Mills, a Republican running for Congress in Florida, had a great time at Mar-a-Lago.
Anna Paulina Luna’s running for Congress in Florida, while Karoline Leavitt is a candidate in New Hampshire. But Mar-a-Lago brought them together.
Scott Kaspar, a Republican candidate for Congress in Illinois, chatted with Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani and Trump pardon recipient Bernie Kerik at Mar-a-Lago.
New York City councilperson Inna Vernikov parlayed her Mar-a-Lago visit into coverage in the Daily Mail.
Trump’s former acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker made remarks recently at his one-time boss’s club.
Trump pardon recipient Roger Stone was all smiles at Mar-a-Lago.
Forbes continues to update "Tracking Trump: A Rundown Of All The Lawsuits And Investigations Involving The Former President.” Among the latest developments: the chair of the House Committee on January 6 said public hearings will likely begin in May.
In Closing
“Politicians were in the pockets.
There were senators on the edge.”
— Willie Nile, “The Day The Earth Stood Still”
