Sheldon Whitehouse: “let me start by thanking our Finance Committee chairman, Chairman Wyden, for his strong leadership. Chairman Wyden was…”

“let me start by thanking our Finance Committee chairman, Chairman Wyden, for his strong leadership. Chairman Wyden was able to secure the cooperation of the wealthy donor who gave Justice Thomas the $\1/4\ million-plus RV loan. The chairman doggedly followed the facts to get the truth for the American people, which takes guts, particularly when you consider the many special interests rooting for this investigation to go away. And while I am thanking the chairman, let me also thank Chairman Durbin for his persistent and dogged pursuit of the truth through the Judiciary Committee. Both the Judiciary and Finance Committees are working to get to the bottom of this. Keep in mind, in all the ethics mess engulfing Justice Thomas, that for every ethics issue, there is also likely a tax issue; perhaps, two sides of the same coin. If a Justice isn't reporting income on his legally required financial disclosure, there is a good chance that something is amiss with his tax reporting as well. When a Justice receives something of value from a benefactor, the presumption is that it needs to be disclosed under the ethics law either as income or as a gift.…”