During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) proposed a subpoena into Jeffrey Epstein’s estate to provide the flight logs to his private plane.

Blackburn announced several individuals she’d like to subpoena to counter Democrats’ quest to subpoena Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo over their relationships with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

According to the Daily Caller, the committee adjourned with no subpoenas after Republicans offered multiple counter-subpoenas to Crow and Leo.

Senate Republicans accused Democrats of attempting to delegitimize the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday abruptly adjourned a hearing that was due to issue subpoenas regarding the Supreme Court ethics investigation into Associate Justice Clarence Thomas after Republicans offered several counter-subpoenas,” Daily Caller wrote.

Per Daily Caller:

Thomas has been under scrutiny from the public and Senate Democrats following several investigative reports by ProPublica, which document his close relations with real estate billionaire Harlan Crow and suggest that he may have been improperly influenced by them. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin had scheduled a vote on Thursday to subpoena Crow and Federalist Society co-chairman Leonard Leo – a prominent conservative who advised the Trump administration on judicial nominations – to discuss Thomas, but abruptly adjourned the hearing to do so after Republicans signaled they would force votes on several controversial counter-subpoenas.

The Tennessee senator listed several of the controversial counter-subpoenas, including Jeffrey Epstein’s flight logs.

“Since we’re in the business of issuing subpoenas now, here are a few more that I filed,” Blackburn said.

“A subpoena to Jeffrey Epstein’s estate to provide the flight logs for his private plane. Given the numerous allegations of human trafficking and sexual abuse surrounding Mr. Epstein, I think it is very important we identify everybody that was on that plane and how many trips they took on that plane and the destinations to which they arrived,” Blackburn said.

The Federalist reports:

Sen. Marsha Blackburn confirmed to the committee that she filed several of the amendments including one to subpoena Justice Sotomayor’s staff over her book-selling scandal.

Blackburn noted that “since we’re in the business of issuing subpoenas,” Republicans like her plan to subpoena Jeffrey Epstein’s estate over his flight logs, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to explain how he lost track of 85,000 migrant children, the Department of Justice over its decision to terminate a program aimed at rooting out Chinese spies in the U.S., Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s staff over his targeting of former President Donald Trump, and the DOJ and Federal Trade Commission over their investigation of Elon Musk.

“Our Supreme Court justices, especially Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, they have been subjected to threats on their lives. Their families have been subjected to threats on their lives. And yet, this is what you and Senator Whitehouse are choosing to focus on, is a discrediting of the court,” Blackburn said. “We know what this is about. We should be talking about protections for the court.”

When Durbin adjourned the committee, he vowed to “absolutely” revive the subpoena fight but did not specify when he plans to do it.

Thomas and Alito’s friendships with wealthy men are not illegal, nor did their so-called “undisclosed lavish gifts and trips” amount to any of the ethics violations outlined in the Supreme Court’s code of conduct at the time they were received. Yet, Durbin repeatedly claimed that the Supreme Court “is in an ethical crisis of its own making.”

“Today, I’m introducing a measure before the Senate Judiciary Committee to subpoena Justice Sotomayor’s taxpayer-funded staff for allegedly forcing colleges to buy her book, which she personally profited from,” Blackburn wrote.

Further remarks from Sen. Blackburn provided by Forbes Breaking News:

 

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