Justice Clarence Thomas says trips with billionaire didn’t need to be disclosed at the time

Justice Clarence Thomas said Friday that he did not disclose luxury travel paid for by a Republican donor because he was advised at the time that he did not have to report it.

In a rare statement sent via the Supreme Court’s public information office, Thomas said that the trips he and his wife, conservative activist Ginni Thomas, took with the donor Harlan Crow and his wife – whom Thomas describes as among his family’s “dearest friends” – were the “sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends” that he was advised did not require disclosure.