A fledgling conservative activist group headed by Ginni Thomas received nearly $600,000 in anonymous donations over the past three years.
The newly revealed donations were channeled through a right-wing think tank as a “fiscal sponsorship" to her group Crowdsourcers for Culture and Liberty in an arrangement that effectively hid details about the conservative group's activities and spending, raising new questions about the wife of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas' activism, reported the Washington Post.
“[She was] proud of the work she did with Crowdsourcers, which brought together conservative leaders to discuss amplifying conservative values with respect to the battle over culture,” said her lawyer Mark Paoletta in a statement to the newspaper. “She believes Crowdsourcers identified the Left’s dominance in most cultural lanes, while conservatives were mostly funding political organizations. In her work, she has complied with all reporting and disclosure requirements.”
“There is no plausible conflict of interest issue with respect to Justice Thomas," Paoletta added.
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That's not the way everyone sees her activism, particularly after revelations of her efforts to help Donald Trump overturn his election loss, including coordination with then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and emails she sent urging state lawmakers to set aside Joe Biden's election wins some key swing states.
Anonymous donors gave the think tank Capital Research Center (CR) funds totaling $596,000 designated for Crowdsourcers, according to tax filings and other required documentation, and $400,000 of that money was routed through the nonprofit Donors Trust, which steers money from undisclosed wealthy donors to conservative causes, but the documents don't say how the money was spent or how much Ginni Thomas was paid.
The Post reported that CRC signed an amicus brief around the time of the donations asking the Supreme Court to hear a case involving fuel emission regulations in Oregon, but the court ultimately declined to take up the case and Paoletta insisted Ginni Thomas "had no knowledge of nor any connection whatsoever" to the formal request.
