Clarence Thomas' billionaire benefactor is reportedly a big collector of Nazi memorabilia

The billionaire conservative megadonor at the center of the Clarence Thomas gift firestorm is the owner of an extensive collection of Adolf Hitler and Nazi memorabilia at his Texas home, reports the Guardian's Martin Pengelly.

Harlan Crow, who has bestowed lavish gifts and provided his private plane to the Supreme Court justice for trips is the owner of a signed copy of Hitler's manifesto "Mein Kampf" and is also in possession of paintings created by the Nazi leader.

Questions are being raised about the relationship between Crow and Thomas after a ProPublica report detailed decades of expensive trips the jurist and his wife, Ginni, took that Crow financed, with Thomas pushing back in a statement issued late last week.

According to the Guardian report, "The Republican megadonor whose gifts to the supreme court justice Clarence Thomas have come under the spotlight has a private collection including a garden of statues of dictators, including Mussolini and Stalin; Nazi memorabilia; and paintings including two works by Adolf Hitler, the Washingtonian reported."

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The report notes that an anonymous source commented, "I still can’t get over the collection of Nazi memorabilia. It would have been helpful to have someone explain the significance of all the items. Without that context, you sort of just gasp when you walk into the room.”

Crow reportedly has a painting “done by George W. Bush next to a Norman Rockwell next to one by Hitler”.

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