and he is close personal friends with justice thomas and harlan crow. nt where he is in a painting crow commissioned that includes justice thomas and a number of other conservative activists. leo has worked closely with ginni thomas, as she promotes right wing activism. in facts, according to reports, leo helped send money her way without a clear explanation of why or for what. yesterday, the senate judiciary committee announced they will vote to authorize issuing subpoenas for a few of those benefactors. this includes real estate billionaire harlan crow, mortgage company owner robert arkly ii, and leonard leo. i'm joined by california senator alex padilla, member of the senate judiciary committee. thank you for being here, senator padilla. let's talk about this. the reaction that you have gotten on the senate judiciary committee from people like harlan crow and leonard leo has been dismissive t say the least. leonard leo has said the llowing, i would not bow to the vile and disgusting liberal mccarthyism that seeks to destroy the supreme court. what do

harlan crow is a billionaire and a republican mega donor. irst met justice clarence thomas in the mid-1990's after thomas' confirmation to the supreme court. not long after they met, crow began to shower justice thomas with lavish gifts, flights on his private jet, invitations to an an all-male invitation only private club, a $19,000 bible that once belonged to douglas -- he disclosed them. but those disclosures abruptly stopped in 2004, almost 20 years ago, after a "los angeles times" report questioned their propriety. we since learned that justice thomas continued to accept gifts from crow that are staggering in both their number and value, from additional flights on crow's private jets so nearly annual stays at crow's luxury camps and private clubs to vacations on crow's super yacht, justice thomas simply stopped disclosing these gifts to the american people. but harlan crow is not the only billionaire bankrolling the lavish lifestyle of a supreme court justice and justice clarence thomas is not the only justice to take gifts. let's turn t

to give some sort of cover to give some kind of legal argument to the likes of leonard leo and harlan crowenate, you know, make a criminal referral to the justice department saying that they are not complying with a legitimate subpoena being issued by the senate? that will be the question they face after they vote these subpoenas through next week. >> joshua, propublica's journalism about the court sans despite a lot of complaining. it was it seemed predicated or rooted in or corroborated by documents that were never in dispute in terms of being real. and it feels like it's possible that ethics laws that require documents to prove or disprove financial ties could actually do something. what is your sense on where all the resistance comes from? >> the resistance to reform? i mean -- >> correct. >> -- it's a fascinating question. as senator durbin was alluding to, this -- the notion that the supreme court should have ethics rules was a bipartisan one until very recently. i >>> a lot of congress people felt it was common sense that the most powerful in the country should have the same sort of

. >> talking about the industrial complex -- in june 2019 harlan crow gave you a maximum donation of $2100? can you explain the back story and how you approach it? can i don't believe i have ever met him, someone mentioned that he can to did to my campaign, thousands contribute. i take i campaign finance reform really seriously in fact on the on number of congress who take snowpack money, no lobbyist money -- sitting at this table right now. money in politics is destroying the country. i used to be on the other cited a donor, it was disgusting corrupt and miserable. my colleagues have to spend 10,000 hours per week raising money. going to breakfasts and lunches every waking moment -- support a bill that will prevent fundraising during morning hours and evening hours. when we are working in washington we should not be raising money. i believe that is the root of all political people right now. when you're spending that much time raising money you are raising it from people who have it americans are sick and right now because no one is coming to them, no one is calling them, and that i

plan to call three major players in conservative politics to capitol hill, including billionaire harlan crow. crow has financed vacations and other gifts for justice clarence thomas. crow is calling the subpoena politically motivated. >> now to a lawsuit that seeks to keep former president trump off the ballot in 2024. those bringing the case argue that under the constitution, trump's conduct on january 6th, 2021 prohibits him from taking office again this morning, lawyers for former president trump appear confident they can beat an unprecedented lawsuit which could determine whether trump is ineligible to hold office again. >> their case is incredibly weak and they don't prove much of anything except they dislike him. that's really what they proved. >> a group of voters in colorado filed a lawsuit arguing trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, leading to the january six riot at the capitol should prohibit him from becoming president again. trump incited a violent mob to attack our capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power under our constitution. the lawsuit invokes the 14th ame

particular about justice clarence thomas and some of the prive jet rides that he received from harlan crow in particular who is a wealthy donor to conservative causes. and then we've also seen stories about justice alito, some of the luxury travel that he's received from outside groups with -- that also promote conservative causes and even questions about justice sonia sotomayor, there was an a.p. report talking about how some of her staff pushed in of the facilities she was speaking at, public universities and libraries to purchase her books. so there is no formal ethics code for the supreme court justices. we'll see if one takes shape. but there has been a seemingly some resistance to it. >> that is so surprised me when i learned that they didn't have an ethics code. and yet the lower courts do. we'll see if they do anything. jessica, thank you so much. >>> and coming up, what do you have to do to win a nobel prize for medicine? we'll tell you. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. intro

the anticorruption group wrote in response, "justice thomas' billionaire benefactor harlan crow has anerest in weakening rent control laws to buttress his real estate empire's profits." on capitol hill, republican florida congressmember introduced a resolution monday to remove speaker kevin mccarthy from his leadership position. gaetz and other far-right republicans for averting a shutdown. gaetz and other far-right republicans have accused mccarthy of making a “secret ukraine side deal” with democrats which mccarthy denies. vice president kamala harris is swearing in a new member of california's senate delegation today, following the death of long-time democratic senator dianne feinstein last week. laphonza butler becomes the first openly lesbian black senator, and just the third black woman to serve in the senate in u.s. history. donald trump appeared in a manhattan courtroom monday for the start of a civil trial brought by new york attorney general letitia james. trump and his business partners including his adult sons are accused of fraudulently inflating the value of trump organiz

the associated press reporting democrats that they plan to subpoena republican mega donor harlan crow leonard leo before more information about their involvement in paying for luxury travel for supreme court justices. it comes as the court is being pressed about an ethics code which is endorsed by three of the nine justices. they could act this week to authorize senator dick durbin to issue those subpoenas to crow, leo and another wealthy donor. one more call from manhattan, kansas. democrats line. this is james. caller: hello. how are you? host: i'm fine, thank you. caller: i was going to mention that not everyone is capable of going to the polls. some of us are severely disabled. mail-in ballots are necessary. thank you, pedro. host: james and kansas -- in kansas finishing the segment off. our next guest will walk through the various legal scenarios and cases facing former president trump. hugo lowell of the guardian will give us that rundown when washington journal continues. ♪ >> c-span's studentcam documentary competition is back, celebrating 20 years with this year's theme, look

this case is exhibit a with multiple right wing front groups funded by billionaires paul singer, harlan crow and the kochs who are billionaires at the center of the ethics mess of secret free byes for -- freebies for justices at the court. in moore, the lawyer litigating on behalf of the billionaires' cause is the same lawyer who conducted the so-called interview with justice alito in "the wall street journal" editorial page about my supreme court ethics bill and our senate investigations on judiciary and finance into the undisclosed gift to certain justices. that interview propped up for the lawyer's client leonard leo, that we could not investigate gifts that leo orchestrated to justice alito. you need a diagram. you cannot make this stuff up. get gant -- litigant in moore, lawyer to leo, interviewer of alito, that's a whole lot of hats for that one lawyer's head. the more you look at this operation, the more you see it as a big shell game with multiple front groups that can be moved around and multiple operatives switching around to deliver results for this billionaire elite. it's a schem