What A Day - The Dishonorable Clarence Thomas

Episode Date: May 5, 2023

On Thursday, four members of the Proud Boys – including former leader Enrique Tarrio – were convicted of seditious conspiracy for their role in the January 6th riot. The trial was the last of three sedition cases brought by the Justice Department against key figures in the insurrection.Another report from ProPublica is raising questions about ethical standards for the Supreme Court. The independent newsroom found that billionaire Harlan Crow paid the boarding school tuition for Justice Clarence Thomas' grandnephew – which Thomas did not disclose. And in headlines: thousands of teachers in Oakland, California are striking for better pay, Republican lawmakers in North Carolina approved a 12-week abortion ban, and hundreds of pounds of pasta were found dumped in the woods outside a New Jersey town.Show Notes:ProPublica: Clarence Thomas Raised Him. Harlan Crow Paid His Tuition. – https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-harlan-crow-private-school-tuition-scotusWhat A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastCrooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffeeFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It is Friday, May 5th. I'm Josie Duffy Rice. And I'm Priyanka Arabindi, and this is What A Day, where we will not be discussing whether or not Taylor Swift is, in fact, dating Mattie Healy. Sorry to this man, but what I do know is we do not report anonymous sources. I mean, we are going to need a lot more yarn for my evidence board in my basement before we can go to you with that news. On today's show, thousands of teachers in Oakland, California walked off the job to demand better pay. Plus, a saucy, starchy mystery is afoot in New Jersey. Of course it's New Jersey. Of course. But first, before we can get to any of that, former Proud Boys head Enrique Tarrio, along with three other leaders of the far-right extremist group,

were convicted of seditious conspiracy yesterday for their role in the January 6th insurrection. There was a fifth defendant. He was found not guilty on the sedition charges, but he was convicted on other felony charges, as were all of these men. The jury convicted on 31 out of 46 charges. They deadlocked on 10 others and found the defendants not guilty on the remaining five.

And with these convictions could come some serious prison time. On the seditious conspiracy charges alone, the four men who were convicted could face a maximum of 50 years in prison. That doesn't include any of the other felony charges that will also play a role in their sentencing. Can we first like remind everybody what seditious conspiracy means? Because to be honest, I went to law school, but it's been a minute. Yeah, I mean, you'd have to like really go back to the Civil War if you're like, I don't know if you're studying that era in law school. Right. So federal law defines seditious conspiracy as two or more

people who are plotting to overthrow the U.S. government, to wage war against the government, or to use force to oppose the government's authority or prevent the execution of any U.S. law. But more specifically, this case dealt with their attempts to keep former President Trump in power and to stop the certification of the 2020 election, which was happening January 6th at the Capitol that day. This trial was the last of three sedition cases that have been brought by the Justice Department against key figures in the insurrection. The two other cases were against members of the Oath Keepers, which are another far-right group. If that's what you're into, you apparently have your pick there of what you want to join.

But with these victories in court, the DOJ has now secured seditious conspiracy convictions against top leaders of both of these far-right groups. So can you tell us a little bit about like, let's start at the beginning. What's a Proud Boy? Like why them? Buckle up, everybody. The Proud Boys group was started actually fairly recently over the course of the 2016 election by the co-founder of Vice Media, Gavin McInnes, which is very crazy because you think that's pretty mainstream actually. They describe themselves as Western chauvinists, which wild, very unclear if they realize that is not a good thing, probably not something you want to describe yourself as. That's actually what I say to insult people. No, no, no. They're into

that title. What they are not into is when people call them the alt-right. They reject that characterization, which, interesting. But they basically exist to espouse anti-political correctness, anti-white guilt. They are known for being white nationalists, misogynists, bigots. They are, you know, awful people in every single which way. Tario didn't start as a leader of this group he later became the leader he was actually arrested before january 6th itself in a separate case and he was ordered to leave dc so he wasn't present there on the day of the insurrection but prosecutors said that he was still calling the shots the day of despite not

being there in person but these seditious conspiracy charges seem pretty much reserved for leadership of these groups. The fifth guy who I was telling you about at the beginning of this, who wasn't convicted of this, was actually the one out of these five who was the most violent at the Capitol on January 6th. But it seems like the seditious conspiracy was really kind of reserved for more of the people who are responsible for planning and the execution of this on a whole. So not your run-of-the-mill awful human being at the insurrection itself. Not the people climbing up the wall and then falling off. No, no, not them.

Okay, so what actually happened during the trial really tried to blame everything on Donald Trump as if there was no prior planning or anything that went into the convergence of all of these terrible people at the Capitol on January 6th. Their defense has been described as combative. They accused the Biden administration of trying to lock up political opponents. I mean, these people did do crimes. It's not like they just were having different opinions than President Biden. And they tried to characterize the defendants who led a militia group as beer drinking patriots at heart, which I don't know why the most awful people in the world always like to cling to the description that they love beer. But like, it really seems like through lines. It's just so weird.

The implication that like only good people like beer. I don't even know what to do with that. Yeah, they're just normal men who love beer and storm the Capitol. I don't fucking know. It's so weird. It's very weird. Anyways, that's not even the craziest part. Tarrio's lawyer, get ready for this one, ended up quoting Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

in his closing argument to try to get this white nationalist off the cook here, which extremely rich. Probably don't bring up MLK right now. It's not your favor. I don't think he ran it by the client. I don't think he would have been okay with that. But karma did pull through there. It did not work. But throughout the case, the prosecutors here were making it very clear that these Proud Boys saw themselves as Trump's army, that they conspired to keep him in office through this attack on the Capitol. It's also worth noting that all of this comes amid Trump's ongoing legal issues, as well as his third run for the presidency. While this trial was going on, former Vice President Mike Pence was actually testifying to a grand jury that is investigating

the aftermath of the 2020 election and Trump's actions at the time. So really remains to be seen, you know, how what happened here factors into, you know, what will happen and what will go on with the rest of Trump's legal dilemmas. Okay, moving on to people who I'm done hearing about. Yeah, more people we're done with. Clarence Thomas is in the news yet again for failure to disclose relevant financial information yet again. This is after two new reports were released on Thursday. The first was published by ProPublica and once again involves Harlan Crowe, the billionaire with the best villain name who has jetted Clarence Thomas and his wife Jenny all over the world on lavish

vacations. He paid off Clarence Thomas's mother's house. And also, he happens to own a lot of Nazi memorabilia. He's just a man who loves history, Josie. It is totally normal. So all of that was already the case. And on Thursday, it came to light that he'd gone even further. He paid two years of boarding school tuition for a relative that Thomas said he was, quote, raising as a son. Okay. This raising as a son business, I got some questions. Yeah. To be clear, this is one of Thomas's relatives.

Yes. Not Harlan Crowe's. Thomas's relatives. Okay. So what do we know about this relative? What is the relationship there? So the relative is Thomas's grandnephew, who Thomas and his wife apparently took in and were very close to.

Apparently, they had legal custody of him starting when he was six years old. And like I said before, Thomas said that they were, quote, raising him as a son. So Thomas had kind of characterized himself as a father figure and guardian to this then kid. When the kid was a teenager, they sent him to a boarding school in North Georgia where tuition was more than $6,000 a month. And guess who picked up the tab? You'll never guess. Yeah, I'm going to go with ding, ding, ding, Harlan Crowe.

Our man Harlan. Yeah. Picked up the tab. And then when a year later, Thomas's grandnephew went to another boarding school in Virginia, Harlan also paid his tuition there. Now, look, this is not great. It just does not look good for a Supreme Court justice to have a big time GOP donor paying for his basically son to go to boarding school.

Yeah, for his child's school. Yeah, it's not good. But what's especially bad is that Thomas disclosed none of this. He said nothing about it. So he's this boy's legal guardian, but doesn't disclose that this billionaire he's friends with that also has a lot of influence in the Republican Party is paying for his grandnephew slash like a son to him's tuition. So he doesn't disclose this. And what's interesting about that is that years earlier, Thomas had disclosed that another person he knows had contributed $5,000 to that boy's education. So he apparently did think that $5,000 was worth disclosing, but not the two years of very expensive tuition. It just makes no sense. So this is not even the only Clarence Thomas scandal of the day. Because also on Thursday,

the Washington Post reported that another conservative rich guy, Leonard Leo. I'm going to need a timeout right there. Leo, Leo. Leo is his name. Writers are truly on strike because this storyline, this is a little unoriginal, guys. We need some better work. The AI wrote this part. I'm so sorry. We'll just call him Leo, Leo. Totally. So Leo, Leo arranged for Ginny Thomas to be paid tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work. Ah. On its own. Not ideal.

But then he tried to hide it. So this is back in 2012 when he apparently asked Kellyanne Conway herself, who was then nobody I knew. I was a much happier person. She was then a GOP pollster. And Leo Leo asked her to, quote, give Ginny another 25K. And he specifically said that the paperwork should have quote, no mention of Ginny, of course. Of course. Of course. Okay. Naturally. Was this money disclosed? No, it was not. If that wasn't bad enough, Ginny was paid to work for a

nonprofit called the Judicial Education Project, which is an innocuous name that really obscures what it actually does, which is try to like basically overturn the right to vote. And they were basically trying to overturn the Voting Rights Act at the time. They filed a brief in a major voting rights case that very year, Shelby County versus Holder, the biggest voting rights case of our generation. And it's the one that really started to kind of dismantle the Voting Rights Act. And you will not be surprised to hear that Thomas ruled in favor of the side that the project where his wife was working supported and publicly filed a brief. Look, Thomas would probably have ruled for them anyway.

He's awful. That's not particularly surprising, but like all of this is so incredibly, like you don't need an encyclopedic knowledge of the handbook of the Supreme Court to know none of this shit is ethical. Right. It's all kind of wild that this is happening. So what happens? Like we are hit with revelation after revelation, Harlan Crowe story after Harlan Crowe story. We're getting a new character now, Leo Leo. Like what happens now that we know all of this shit? Like, is there anything that happens now? Well, what could happen is there could really be some accountability. There could be hearings. There could be an investigation. There could even be impeachment. There are more and more people calling for that. We are hearing people say, like, look, this isn't acceptable. And we really think this justice needs to be held accountable. Unfortunately, Congress doesn't seem that interested in holding him

accountable and particularly congressional leaders on the Judiciary Committee. So Dick Durbin asked John Roberts if he wanted to come in and testify. John Roberts said no. He didn't even ask Clarence Thomas because, as we talked about with Jay Willis last week, he didn't think Clarence Thomas would say yes, so he didn't even bother to ask. There doesn't really seem to be real efforts at accountability from the congressional level. And Durbin is kind of blaming Dianne Feinstein for this because, like, she's not around. Not present right now. She's nowhere to be found. Yeah, sure. Which like I would maybe kind of go with if he were doing possibly anything to hold Dianne Feinstein accountable for the fact that she can't do her job.

There's a group of Democrats now who are like, hey, that's a problem and we need to get someone who actually can do this in. Right. It's very clear that congressional leaders are not actually interested in addressing the problem. And that might be because they don't actually think it's going to result in anything. But we are at a time with the most unpopular Supreme Court in years at a Supreme Court that's basically seen as illegitimate after what we saw happen with Merrick Garland. Right. Brett Kavanaugh, what we've seen happen with the decisions, everything from voting rights to Roe. And so now is a real opportunity for the Democratic Party to say, look, these people are not following the rules. They are dictating what happens in our lives.

They're invading your autonomy as women while getting whatever Harlan Crowe to do X, Y, and Z and everything else. I mean, like, this is a real political opportunity, even if it's not going to result in an impeachment. And it's very disappointing that the Democrats aren't taking it. I don't have anything to add. I fully agree. As always, we will keep a close eye on how this unfolds. But that is the latest for now. Let's get to some headlines.

Headlines. What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! What do we want? Justice! When do we want it?

Now! Protesters gathered in New York on Wednesday to demand justice for Jordan Neely, an unhoused black man who was choked to death on the subway by a white former Marine earlier this week. The outrage began on Monday when a video circulated on social media of the man putting Neely in a headlock after he started yelling on the train about not having food or water and expressing thoughts of self-harm. Witnesses said that Neely did not physically attack anyone, but the man held Neely in a headlock for close to 15 minutes and two other passengers were seen restraining him as well until he passed out. The city medical examiner's office ruled his death as a homicide caused by, quote, compression of the neck. Police questioned the man who choked Neely,

but later released him. People who knew Neely described him as a kind person and a skilled performer and known for his impression of the late singer Michael Jackson. Manhattan prosecutors say they've launched an investigation into the incident and are weighing whether to pursue criminal charges. I have to say, Priyanka, this has been one of the most devastating stories because a man was killed on the subway while lots of people watched. And lots of people seem OK with that. And it's pretty upsetting. Thousands of teachers in Oakland, California, went on strike yesterday after their union and the school district failed to reach a deal on a new contract. Some 3,000 teachers, nurses, librarians, and other staffers within the Oakland Unified School District are asking for better working conditions, higher pay, and more resources for students.

According to the union, Oakland teachers are the lowest paid in the San Francisco Bay Area, a region where the already high cost of living has gone up in recent years. This comes after teachers with the Los Angeles Unified School District went on a three-day solidarity strike with district service workers in March and followed the University of California academic workers strike last fall. Schools will remain open for the duration of the work stoppage, though classes are canceled for the more than 30,000 students in the district. Right now, there is no set end date for the strike. Republican lawmakers in North Carolina approved legislation yesterday that would ban abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, a sharp reduction from the state's current 20-week limit. The measure offers some exceptions in cases of rape or incest, but only up to the 20-week mark. In addition, it also requires patients to go through three in-person clinic visits first, making the procedure even less accessible,

especially for folks traveling to North Carolina from nearby states with even more restrictive abortion laws on the books. Democratic Governor Roy Cooper posted a video message emphasizing the bill's extreme language yesterday. The fine print requirements and restrictions will shut down clinics and make abortion completely unavailable to many women at any time, causing desperation and death. Cooper has vowed to veto the bill.

However, the GOP supermajority in both chambers could override that veto. I think it's also worth mentioning that Tricia Cotham, she's the North Carolina legislator who ran as a Democrat and was all about protecting bodily autonomy and then got into office and pretty quickly changed parties. And as a new Republican, she voted for this terrible abortion ban. So that's disappointing. And some more bummer news from Republican-led state houses. Montana's legislature passed a bill this week that would ban drag queen story hour events at public schools, libraries, and other places that receive public funding. The measure also aims to ban, quote, sexually oriented or obscene performances on public property where children may be present, echoing language from Tennessee's anti-drag law that classified such performances as quote-unquote

adult cabaret shows that are unsuitable for minors. Governor Greg Gianforte hasn't indicated whether or not he will sign the measure into law, but just last week he did approve a ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth in the state, so things really are not looking great. And speaking of Tennessee's anti-drag law, singer Hayley Kiyoko said yesterday

that authorities tried to keep her from bringing drag queens on stage for her concert in Nashville. According to Kiyoko, an undercover cop told her that she would be breaking the law by featuring queens on stage because her show was open to people of all ages,

even though the law is currently blocked in court and cannot be enforced. Okay, then what are you doing there if you're an undercover cop? Like, what's your deal? Kiyoko said that the Queens, quote, showed no fear and went ahead and slayed. Anyways, that is amazing, but these aren't the circumstances that they should have to be in. Turning now to a groundbreaking environmental justice investigation, the DOJ and the Health and Human Services Department have concluded that Alabama officials blatantly ignored serious wastewater problems in one

predominantly black rural county. The nearly two-year probe found that officials in Lowndes County repeatedly brushed off complaints from residents about the area's poor sanitation infrastructure, even as raw sewage surfaced in their yards and even inside their home. Nightmare. Excuse me? That's so not okay. Yeah. Raw sewage. They complained about it and they were brushed off.

That led to some people contracting hookworm, a harmful intestinal parasite, and to make matters worse, some residents were even punished with fines and even criminal penalties for the sewage problems, even though it was out of their control. Criminal penalties. As a result of the investigation, the Alabama Department of Public Health has agreed to take steps to improve the area's wastewater management and more adequately address the health risk to residents. The DOJ says this is the first environmental justice settlement the department has settled

under existing civil rights law. Meanwhile, in New Jersey, it is time to put our investigative journalism hats on because there is a positively bizarre investigation underway in the town of Old Bridge, where authorities say that someone dumped hundreds of pounds of various pasta noodles near a local creek. The carb-loaded conundrum began earlier this week when a community advocate posted photos of the soggy noodle mounds on a local Facebook group. And like someone throwing spaghetti at a wall to see what sticks, amateur internet sleuths have offered numerous theories. There is some speculation that it may have come from one of the area's many Italian restaurants or even someone trying to grow magic mushrooms, which feels strange. I don't really get the connection there.

But in typical New Jersey fashion, some residents say they know who did it, but they are not snitching. If you catch my drift. Tony Soprano. Yeah, I watch all six seasons of Sopranos. I mean, I guess it could be about waste management. In a sense, it is. Totally. This is waste management. It is Tony Soprano. He's dead, but. Josie, what a spoiler. God. However, locals say it is not unusual for garbage to end up in the woods there since the area doesn't have bulk storage pickup, but maybe this is something you all can get this noodle about this weekend. I am very upset about this. I don't like it. The implication is that the spaghetti is soggy. I want to know like if the pasta was soggy when it got there, if it was dry when it got there, but it rained. I have like a lot of questions.

I'm stressed. I don't understand. And those are the headlines. We'll be back after some ads to make Josie a little uncomfortable for the sake of science, of course. I'm already uncomfortable. How is this going to get worse? It's Friday, Wild Squad.

And today we are going to try a little experiment something we are going to call josie versus science let's put on our lab coats and get straight to business josie over the past couple weeks the wad team has pitched a handful of extremely important scientific breakthroughs from cloning mastodon tissue to make meatballs to the ear-piercing sounds of uncomfortable plants. We all know that science is a process and each new failure and discovery brings us closer to the truth. But Josie, we know that you are here for absolutely none of this. The truth matters, but also it doesn't if it's gross. And everything I've learned recently about woolly mammoth meatballs and Tyrannosaurus rexes maybe having big lips and that plants make noise when they're upset.

I don't like it. I don't like any of it. And I know I'm not gonna like what's coming. No, no, no, you certainly will not. But anyways, this week we have a story that we hope will be, shall we say, food for thought about how changing our diets can help mitigate climate change. So

are you ready for this? No, but I don't think I have a choice. You really don't. So here we go. In Switzerland, a country known for Toblerones, cheese full of holes, and Tina Turner, there is a growing movement to encourage people to eat bugs. Let me explain. According to the Wall Street Journal, Switzerland became the first European country to legalize and regulate the sale of insects for human consumption back in 2017. A Zurich-based startup recently became the first insect food company to start selling its products at grocery stores in the country. But it's been, shall we say, a tough sell, even though it is well known that many bugs are high in protein and other nutrients and don't produce nearly as much pollution as quote unquote traditional livestock

animals. People just aren't buying it. So Josie, will you be making a switch to bugs to save the planet? Okay, I have a very controversial answer to this. Oh. Number one, no, I will not. But you brought up cheese full of holes. And I want to say as an infamous cheese eater.

Oh, I didn't know this about you. I hate cheese in all forms. All of it. All of it. Interesting. I'll eat cream cheese sometimes. But point being, bugs and cheese pretty much equally bad to me. Maybe I would choose bugs over cheese.

Maybe I wouldn't, but maybe I would. That's a crazy take, Josie Duffy Rice. That is one of the craziest I have ever heard in my life, I think. Okay. I had to go hard or go home. Okay. Maybe would choose cheese before bugs, but barely. Like I would have to think about it because I hate cheese a lot. Do you just hate the taste? Does it make your tummy hurt? Like what's the issue?

I hate the taste. I hate the texture. I hate all of it. Wow. Everything about it. Don't understand how you guys like it. And also it is mold. I'm just saying bugs, mold, like none of it's ideal. Look, the chocolate thing. I can get with the chocolate thing. And other than that, Switzerland's really not, I'm not trying to eat there. Okay.

However, Switzerland, if you're listening and you want to fly us out to check it out, we'll go. Yeah, we can report live from the scene. It's true. But just like that, congratulations, Josie. You have faced your fears. You have survived this round with science. I hope you're feeling great because I know I am after hearing that wild take.

I know. That came out of left field and that's how all my cheesesteaks are. People are never expecting them. It was getting late, but I'm awake again. I got a second wind. One more thing before we go crooked is venturing across the pond and no it is not to attend the coronation of king charles we don't like him and we weren't invited so i guess it's fine we are excited to announce the launch of our newest pod pod save the uk a hilarious and insightful look at politics with a british twist Join comedian Nish Kumar and journalist Coco Khan every week as they dish

on everything from strikes to scandals and even how to ditch the royal family for something better. You can hear the first episode right now wherever you get your podcasts. That is all for today. If you like the the show make sure you subscribe leave a review make your Italian grandmother proud by eating a wheelbarrow full of pasta and tell your friends to listen

and if you're into reading and not just receipts from Harlan Crowe's checkbook like me what a day is also a nightly newsletter check it out and subscribe

at crooked.com slash subscribe I'm Priyanka Arabindi I'm Josie Duffy Rice and step the hell down Cl Clarence Thomas. Time for you to go, baby. Stay home.

Hang out with Jenny. Just retire. I mean, that sounds like an absolute nightmare, but. I know. That's why that man is working so much. He's like, I will not retire. I will not go home to this woman. And in the words of the great Danny DeVito, Clarence Thomas, retire bitch. our senior producer is Lita Martinez. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.