The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) — a D.C.-based organization that filed an ethics complaint last week against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for “failing to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts from and property sales” from a wealthy GOP donor — was one of the main sources quoted in the ProPublica report a day before they filed an ethics complaint.
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Less than 24 hours after the report featuring those comments was published, CREW, which was previously chaired by longtime Clinton ally David Brock, announced that it had filed an ethics complaint against Thomas to the Department of Justice and Chief Justice John Roberts.
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The ProPublica report accused Thomas of taking trips across the world on Crow’s yacht and private jet without disclosing them and Crow acknowledged extending “hospitality” to Thomas but insisted he never asked for it and that the two families have been friends for decades.
The reasoning behind ProPublica’s decision to feature an initial comment from CREW is unclear and raises concern following reports in recent years that the group operates in a partisan fashion.
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In 1996, then-Senator Joe Biden sold a home in Greenville, Delaware, to a longtime benefactor, John R. Cochran III of MBNA, for $1.2 million. Biden then used those profits to purchase a nearby lot of 4.2 acres for $350,000 from real estate executive and developer Keith Stoltz, according to Delaware Online.
The funding for ProPublica, an investigative journalism nonprofit, has also faced scrutiny for coming from liberal-leaning groups.
In 2017, only 17% of ProPublica’s revenue came from small-dollar donors. The Sandler Foundation provided some of the initial funding for ProPublica, and Sandler Foundation founder Herb Sandler was ProPublica’s founding chairman of the Board of Directors until 2016.
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Other large donations came from left-leaning sources: investor Donald Sussman, who has donated tens of millions of dollars to Democrats in recent election cycles, donated $480,100. George Soros’ Foundation to Promote Open Society donated $200,000. The left-wing advocacy group Solidarity Giving gave $150,000.
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Mike Davis, the founder and president of Article III Project, told Fox News Digital that ProPublica “is a well-known leftwing publication, funded by leftwing foundations and individuals including billionaires George Soros and the late Herb Sandler. And CREW is a well-known leftwing organization, formerly run by notorious Democrat operative David Brock. It should come as no surprise that leftwing ProPublica and CREW are colluding on a political drive-by shooting against Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative black jurist who Democrats have long hated for escaping their plantation four decades ago.”
“Harlan has no business before the Supreme Court. And there is nothing illegal or unethical about best friends taking family vacations together or engaging in fair-market-value transactions,” he added. “Claiming ‘corruption’ when a government official sells real estate at a loss nearly a decade ago to his best friend of 25 years is laughable on its face.”
Thomas has defended his relationship with the Crow family and explained in a statement issued earlier this month that he has always followed Supreme Court guidance.
“Harlan and Kathy Crow are among our dearest friends, and we have been friends for over twenty-five years,” said Thomas.
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Davis told Fox there is “no chance Justice Clarence Thomas will ever succumb to the Democrats’ 31-year campaign to chase him off the Supreme Court–for the non-crime of a conservative black man thinking for himself.”
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