Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images
- Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas once said in a documentary that he prefers RV parks and Walmarts.
- A new ProPublica report found Thomas has been taking luxury vacations paid for by a GOP megadonor for years.
- Thomas reportedly accepted the trips from billionaire Harlan Crow, who helped finance the documentary.
Forget him rubbing elbows with billionaires on superyachts: Clarence Thomas wants you to think he's a man of the people.
Thomas once starred in a documentary bankrolled in part by the billionaire GOP megadonor who has reportedly treated him to ultra-luxury vacations around the world, with the Supreme Court justice saying he enjoys RV parks and Walmart parking lots over beaches.
"I don't have any problem with going to Europe, but I prefer the United States, and I prefer seeing the regular parts of the United States," Thomas said in an interview for the 2020 documentary about his life titled: "Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words."
"I prefer the RV parks. I prefer the Walmart parking lots to the beaches and things like that. There's something normal to me about it," Thomas continued, adding, "I come from regular stock, and I prefer that — I prefer being around that."
Real estate magnate and Republican donor Harlan Crow helped finance the documentary, according to a bombshell ProPublica report published Thursday, which reported that Thomas has been taking secret lavish vacations on luxury jets and superyachts paid for by Crow for years without disclosing them.
Thomas, a conservative who joined the nation's highest court in 1991, has accepted the extravagant trips from Crow nearly every year for more than two decades, ProPublica reported, citing flight records, internal documents, and interviews.
According to the report, Thomas has vacationed with Crow on his 162-foot yacht around the world and has flown around on Crow's Bombardier Global 5000 jet.
Thomas usually spends roughly a week each summer at Crow's private and sprawling lakeside resort in New York's Adirondacks, the report said.
In June 2019, Thomas and his wife took an Indonesia vacation, thanks to Crow, and it could have cost more than an estimated $500,000 if Thomas chartered the yacht and plane himself, according to ProPublica.
A Supreme Court spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment by Insider on Thursday.
Crow, in a statement to ProPublica, said he has been friends with Thomas and his wife, Ginni, since 1996 and added: "The hospitality we have extended to the Thomas's over the years is no different from the hospitality we have extended to our many other dear friends."
"Justice Thomas and Ginni never asked for any of this hospitality," Crow said.
"We have never asked about a pending or lower court case, and Justice Thomas has never discussed one, and we have never sought to influence Justice Thomas on any legal or political issue," said Crow.