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heating up. plus, president biden is coming to his son hunter s defense, as prosecutors are said to be nearing a decision on possibly charging him with tax and firearms violations. by the way, if, if that happens, and if hunter biden is charged, note, democrats, unlike republicans, will not call for an end to the fbi or an end to the department of justice, because, i don t know, i guess it s only republicans that think the powerful are above the law. right. what the president is saying about that. also ahead, the inside story on supreme course justice clarence thomas and his wife ginny s path to political influence in washington. you re watching morning joe. we ll be right back. ....
Crow. those allegations and the upbringing of clarence and ginni thomas are the focus of a new documentary from front line and pbs. clarence thomas accepted millions of dollars. ginny under scrutiny. she grew up with republican activism. he felt resentment, victimization, anger. their influence. roe versus wade is overruled. they are the it couple of the far right. wow, joining us now, producer and director of clarence and ginni thomas: politics, power and the supreme court, michael kirk. thank you for being on this morning. this documentary, i mean, in light of the revelations from pro publica, of trips worth ....
Yes, this is all part of what we re learning of what we ve known has been a very secretive world of money and influence around the supreme court and why so many people are pushing the justices to adopt a formal code of ethics, but i want to say that all these instances that have come out recently in news reports are not all the same and not of the same weight. let s start by saying what leonard leo told the washington post in response to that report. the work ginni did here did not involve anything connected with either the court s business or other legal issues. knowing how disrespectful, malicious and gossipy people can be i have always tried to protect the privacy of justice thomas and ginny. so let me get to this, kate, about what s the same here and why these kinds of reports keep raising concerns and what s different. we saw just recently reports from propublica about republican ....
Trying to carry out an assassination attempt on russian president vladimir putin, a claim that ukrainian officials adamantly deny. jose? ellison barber in kyiv, thank you very much. according to documents reviewed by the washington post, conservative activist leonard leo arranged for thomas wife ginny to be paid tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work over ten years ago, but specified that her name be left off the paper work. and in 2012, leo instructed kellyanne conway to bill a nonprofit he advises and use the funds to pay ginni thomas according to the post. neither connie, the thomases or the head of the nonprofit have commented on this story to the washington post. nbc news has not seen the documents and cannot independently verify the report. in response to questions from the post, leo issued a statement saying in part, quote, the work ....
And ginny. that s what he said. let me tell you, john, that privacy, secrecy? no. this is all showing how difficult it is for anybody in congress who wants a code of ethics, any watchdog groups, any media to get a handle on the money the justices have been accepting either as gifts and travel and, you know, money for education that justice clarence thomas took from harlan crow to help with his own travels but then also to help his young grand-nephew who was living with him. those were, you know, earlier reports this week, but this one just adds to that also making us wonder why are these people giving so much money to the justices, what do they expect in return and how could that possibly be affecting cases that go to you know, this is the nation s highest court. this court decides the law for all of us, john, and this just points up why so many people think the justices should have a formal code of conduct. amen. ....