FCC Officials Took Gifts From Paramount While It Had Business Before Them — ProPublica

Expensive Gifts: Despite regulating broadcast media, FCC commissioners have accepted pricey tickets to the Kennedy Center honors gala from CBS or its parent company, now Paramount. 

Conflict of Interest: Ethics experts say that by accepting the gifts, FCC commissioners are compromising the agency’s impartiality and should avoid acting on Paramount’s pending merger. 

Mixing Business and Pleasure: After voting for a Paramount merger, Commissioner Olivia Trusty took tickets worth over $12,000. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has accepted tickets worth at least $63,000...

 https://www.propublica.org/article/paramount-mergers-fcc-kennedy-center-gala 

Trump reportedly gifts cabinet members and White House visitors with Florsheim shoes

Some administration officials snipe about having to wear middling footwear instead of their upmarket favorites…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/10/trump-florsheim-shoes

 

Ro Khanna takes on lobbyist power with anti-corruption ‘Drain the Swamp Act’

The "Drain the Swamp Act" – shared exclusively with the Guardian and deliberately invoking Trump's own 2016 campaign slogan – would convert into permanent law the ethics requirements previously established by executive order, including bans on lobbyist gifts and "revolving door" restrictions. 

"He campaigned on draining the swamp, and yet he gets in there and he says, no, lobbyists can give gifts to White House officials," Khanna said. "What I'm saying is that we need to ban lobbyists from giving gifts to White House officials, not just this administration, but for all administrations going forward."…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/10/ro-khanna-trump-drain-the-swamp-act

 

Gaetz Gets INSTANT KARMA as Report IS FINALLY RELEASED

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND8-no9l2fU

Opinion | The Man Behind the End of Roe v. Wade Has Big Plans for America - The New York Times

Capturing the presidency is important to Leo not only for policy and ideological reasons, but also because, if Donald Trump is elected, he will appoint the next I.R.S. commissioner. It would be very unlikely that such an appointee would pursue an investigation into Leo's finances. 

Control of the Senate is also crucial because the Democratic-controlled Judiciary Committee last year subpoenaed Leo to talk about whether he was involved in gifts to members of the Supreme Court by prominent Republican donors...

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/opinion/leonard-leo-fundraising-supreme-court-irs.html

Supreme Court says state officials can engage in a little corruption - Vox

Jackson argues that the statute should be read to prohibit "rewards corruptly accepted by government officials in ways that are functionally indistinguishable from taking a bribe," much like the payment at issue in this case appears to be. 

Kavanaugh's majority opinion, meanwhile, relies heavily on policy arguments and other claims that go beyond the statute's text. He does attempt to make a textual argument — Kavanaugh notes that the statute at issue in Snyder, like a different statute that only concerns bribes, uses the word "corruptly" — but his best arguments are atextual... 

It's also notable that neither Justice Clarence Thomas nor Justice Samuel Alito, both of whom have accepted expensive gifts from politically active Republican billionaires, recused themselves from the case. Thomas and Alito both joined Kavanaugh's opinion reading the anti-corruption statute narrowly…

https://www.vox.com/scotus/357170/supreme-court-snyder-united-states-corruption

Sheldon Whitehouse calls on Samuel Alito for info on ‘improper’ interview

"The interview raised several problems," Whitehouse said in a letter. "It thus appears that you offered an improper opinion regarding a question that might come before the Court; did so in the context of a known ongoing legal dispute involving that precise question; did so at the behest of an interviewer who as a lawyer represented a client in that ongoing dispute; and did so to the benefit of his client, your personal friend, and to the benefit of yourself, as a recipient of undisclosed gifts that are the subject of our investigation."…

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4714185-whitehouse-alito-wsj-interview/

'It pays to be Clarence': Data shows justice raked in 'staggering' $4 million in gifts - Raw Story

Thomas was found to have received 193 gifts — which include meals, lodging and flights — worth $4,042,286 and 126 additional "likely" gifts valued at $1,837,510, the data show...

https://www.rawstory.com/clarence-thomas-gifts-2668471521/

Billionaire Leonard Leo rejects Senate subpoena over gifts to justices

"Mr Leo has played a central role in the ethics crisis plaguing the supreme court … This subpoena is a direct result of Mr Leo's own actions and choices."

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2024/apr/12/billionaire-leonard-leo-rejects-senate-subpoena-supreme-court-gifts

The Scheme 28: The Judicial Conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWUr-rOBKxw

Sen. Whitehouse Details the Latest News in the Investigation into Justice Clarence Thomas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJJgZxuJqgI

Harlan Crow, Leonard Leo may face subpoenas from Senate Judiciary Committee - The Washington Post

"By accepting these lavish, undisclosed gifts, the justices have enabled their wealthy benefactors and other individuals with business before the Court to gain private access to the justices while preventing public scrutiny of this conduct," Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said in the joint announcement. "It is imperative that we understand the full extent of how people with interests before the Court are able to use undisclosed gifts to gain private access to the justices."…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/30/harlan-crow-leonard-leo-subpoena-supreme-court/

SCOTUS Ethics Scandal Continues: Clarence Thomas Didn't Disclose Attendance at Koch fundraisers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_04M5utg2I

How Harlan Crow Cut His Taxes With Clarence Thomas Cruises — ProPublica

As ProPublica reported in April, Crow lavished gifts on Thomas for over 20 years, often in the form of luxury trips on Crow's jet and yacht. One focus of the investigations is whether Crow disclosed his generosity toward Thomas to the IRS, since large gifts are subject to the gift tax. Another is whether Crow treated his trips with Thomas as deductible business expenses...

https://www.propublica.org/article/harlan-crow-slashed-tax-bill-clarence-thomas-superyacht

Justice Clarence Thomas 1987 Wedding Reception Paid for by Friend: NYT

Sexual assault allegations strained Thomas' accession to the court. But as he became a member of the Horatio Alger Association, he was treated "like a brother, like he mattered," Williams told the paper. "And, in return, he opened up the Supreme Court."…

https://www.businessinsider.com/justice-clarence-thomas-1987-wedding-reception-paid-by-friend-2023-7

AOC Calls Out 'Dangerous Authoritarian Expansion of Power in the Supreme Court'

"What's actually disturbing is the feature of the Roberts Court to accept lavish gifts from billionaires, hide that fact, & then rule in their favor. It would be an insult to democracy to respect this conduct. Legitimacy is not a birthright - it is earned. They are destroying it"

https://www.commondreams.org/news/aoc-calls-out-dangerous-authoritarian-expansion-of-power-in-the-supreme-court

Campaign Legal Center Files Ethics Complaint Against Governor DeSantis for Undisclosed Travel Gifts

"This lack of disclosure from Governor DeSantis appears to be a clear violation of state laws that are necessary to maintaining public trust," said Kedric Payne, CLC Vice President, General Counsel, and Senior Director of Ethics. "Floridians have a right to know that government officials representing them are acting in the public's interests – not their own personal interest, or the interests of the wealthy special interests who give them gifts."

https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/campaign-legal-center-files-ethics-complaint-against-governor-desantis-for-undisclosed-travel-gifts

Campaign Legal Center Files Ethics Complaint Against Governor DeSantis for Undisclosed Travel Gifts

"This lack of disclosure from Governor DeSantis appears to be a clear violation of state laws that are necessary to maintaining public trust," said Kedric Payne, CLC Vice President, General Counsel, and Senior Director of Ethics. "Floridians have a right to know that government officials representing them are acting in the public's interests – not their own personal interest, or the interests of the wealthy special interests who give them gifts."

https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/campaign-legal-center-files-ethics-complaint-against-governor-desantis-for-undisclosed-travel-gifts

Harlan Crow on collision course with Senate over Clarence Thomas gifts

If the businessman had the payments categorized as business expenses, for example, it would contradict assertions by Crow and Thomas that the trips and other gifts were based merely on the pair's longstanding relationship. Instead, it would imply that Crow believed the expenses could boost his companies...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/23/harlan-crow-senate-investigation-clarence-thomas-gifts-tax-supreme-court

Judicial record undermines Clarence Thomas defence in luxury gifts scandal

Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow was linked to a conservative group that had court business while Thomas was on the bench…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/20/clarence-thomas-supreme-court-harlan-crow-luxury-gifts