June 2024. Blues Vol 40 No.6

there, and I think

there, and I think arguments to the contrary make no sense,” Schaub told The Post. “It’s not the rich-friend-who-can-give-youstuff exception. It’s supposed to apply to things like your friends’ kids’ wedding or a home-cooked meal with your friend.” Conversely, some others believe differently, including Kedric Payne, general counsel of the Campaign Legal Center and a former Office of Congressional Ethics lawyer. Last year, Payne told The Post that he believes the executive branch “does not have a requirement that a host remain on the premises for the personal hospitality exemption to apply.” Meanwhile, Mark Paoletta, who served under former President Trump as general counsel of the White House budget office, told The Post there are “two standards” applied depending on which party the official is from. “This is another intentional refusal to disclose gifts by…Biden. His habit of taking over donors’ homes for vacations and not paying nor disclosing is consistent with his family’s long history of grift and corruption,” said Paoletta. He is a longtime friend of Justice Thomas, whose free travel with real estate billionaire Harlan Crow was the focus of ProPublica’s left-wing hit job on him. Crow was present for some of that travel with Thomas, and has no known business in front of the Supreme Court. “Some liberal ethics experts have called Biden’s repeated omissions illegal and a potential criminal violation of [the] law. And this year, Biden also failed to disclose Jill Biden’s use of the 22 The Blues - June ‘24 luxury box at the Super Bowl. They aren’t ashamed and don’t even bother hiding it because they know the liberal media won’t say a word,” Paoletta continued. He then set his sights on Pro- Publica, a hack left-wing site funded in part by George Soros, which he said “was laughably awarded a Pulitzer for its dishonest agenda-driven ‘ethics’ reporting.” The site routinely targets conservatives and law enforcement while ignoring liberals and Democrats. “Where is the leftwing, billionaire-funded ProPublica?” Paoletta said, noting they “are completely fine with Biden’s actual, wilful violations of the law. Double standard doesn’t begin to describe the hypocrisy on display.” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) says there needs to be federal reform to focus on gift omissions. “The radical left’s silence on President Biden’s many ethics issues is deafening,” Comer said. “From President Biden’s involvement in his family’s influence peddling schemes, all the ‘loans’ the Bidens received from Democrat donors, to President Biden’s free vacation stays at his donors’ homes, it’s clear we need to reform federal ethics laws to provide greater transparency to the American people.” Justice Thomas has said that he was advised the ethics law contains a “personal hospitality” exception and therefore he didn’t have to report the trips or reimburse for private jet flights. Reporting has shown that Mr. Crow also provided financial support to the justice’s mother and great nephew. Some far-left Democrats, including radical Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Hamas-sympathizer Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have demanded Justice Thomas be impeached or forced to resign. Last year, the U.S. Judicial Conference tightened up rules to specify that resorts don’t count as personal residences and therefore are not exempt from reporting. “This is beyond party or partisanship. This degree of corruption is shocking–almost cartoonish. Thomas must be impeached,” Ocasio-Cortez screeched in a tweet on X. Last Thursday, an unnamed White House official told The Post that, “The President and First Lady did not have any required disclosures of gifts or travel reimbursements during the reporting period (January to December 2023). Under the ethics rules, gifts of personal hospitality from friends such as food, lodging, and entertainment are not required to be listed on the report.” Painter, however, isn’t buying it, and noted that he doesn’t believe there needs to be additional legal reforms to clarify that such vacation stays must be listed on the ethics forms. “Most of these billionaires want something, other than just being able to be friends with famous people,” Painter said. “President Biden should set a good example by either paying for the house or fixing those forms.” Don’t hold your breath.

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