'It is just inexplicable': Former prosecutor explains how Clarence Thomas may have broken the law

It is "just inexplicable" how Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas thought he was following the rules with his acceptance of hundreds of thousands of dollars in vacations and tuition, and he may have in fact violated a criminal statute, according to a former Mueller prosecutor.

Andrew Weissmann, the former general counsel of the FBI and a previous top prosecutor for Robert Mueller's special counsel office, was a guest on MSNBC's Deadline White House. The host, Nicolle Wallace, said the congressional branch of government looks incapable or disinterested in doing anything about the disclosures, and asked whether a DOJ investigation into the matter would be forthcoming.

"I've covered this, maybe mistakenly, largely as an ethical lapse. But is it also a violation of law?" Wallace asked.

Weissmann responded by suggesting the ethical side is focused on the "disclosure issue," but that there is another "bucket" that's at issue.

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"The other bucket is how is Clarence Thomas dealing with this in terms of his taxes?" Weissmann said. "If you pay up to $150,000 and that's given as a gift to Clarence Thomas, it doesn't matter if it's not given directly to him, if it's just given to his benefit and to the school."

He added that, "The criminal issue would be, 'Is this a dependent?'"

"I think it's too early to say this is a criminal violation, but the issue for the department is is there enough there that you should be looking at it," Weissmann said. "Here it is just inexplicable how Clarence Thomas thought he was complying with the rules, and he may have been violating an actual criminal statute."

"Should the department be looking at it?" he asked himself before answering, "Yes."

Watch the video below or at this link.