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Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, secretly accepted thousands of dollars for consulting work in 2012 following a request that her name be left off of documents reporting the payments, according to a new bombshell report.
On Thursday (May 4), the Washington Post reported that Ginni Thomas received the payments from conservative activist Leonard Leo, who allegedly instructed pollster Kellyanne Conway to “give” her “another 25k."
“No mention of Ginni, of course,” Leo told Conway of the payment for Thomas.
From June 2011 to June 2012, Ginni ultimately received $80,000 from Conway's firm, The Polling Company. Conway went on to become a 2016 campaign manager and White House counselor to Donald Trump.
In a statement to the Post, Leo argued that it was “no secret that Ginni Thomas has a long history of working on issues within the conservative movement.”
“Part of that work has involved gauging public attitudes and sentiment,” he said. “The work she did here did not involve anything connected with either the Court’s business or with other legal issues.”
Leo said he left Ginni's name off the payment paperwork because of “how disrespectful, malicious, and gossipy people can be.”
“I have always tried to protect the privacy of Justice Thomas and Ginni,” he added.
The report comes after ProPublica first reported that Clarence Thomas failed to disclose luxury vacations, private jet travel, megayacht adventures, and real estate deals he accepted from GOP megadonor Harlan Crow. The justice previously responded to the report, saying he didn't think he had to disclose “personal hospitality” from a friend.
Earlier this week, the publication dropped another bombshell report, alleging that Clarence Thomas accepted private school tuition payments for his grandnephew, who he previously said he raised like a son, from Crow.
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