Clarence Thomas scandal deepens with report of rightwing activist’s secret payments to wife – live

Leonard Leo arranged for Virginia ‘Ginni’ Thomas to be paid $25,000 and emphasized ‘no mention of Ginni’ on the payments

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Good morning, US politics readers. A prominent conservative judicial activist arranged for Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of the supreme court justice Clarence Thomas, to be paid tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work over ten years ago and emphasized “no mention of Ginni” on the payments, according to a new report.

An investigation by the Washington Post revealed that Leonard Leo, a leader of the Federalist Society who led campaigns to support the nominations of a handful of conservative supreme court justices, directed GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway in 2012 to bill the Judicial Education Project, a non-profit Leo advises.

North Carolina lawmakers have passed a 12-week abortion ban, which Democratic governor Roy Cooper promised to veto.

New York mayor Eric Adams and police are facing increasing criticism from protestors for a lack of action over 30-year-old Jordan Neely’s death.

Senate Democrats are criticizing House Republicans’ proposal to raise the government’s borrowing limit in exchange for spending cuts.