Harlan Crow, the billionaire whose name shot to national prominence upon reports of his relationship with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is speaking out about their decades-long acquaintance and the interactions that some argue violate ethics laws surrounding the nations highest court. In an exclusive interview with The Dallas Morning News, Crow defended the friendship and said recent coverage has been factually incorrect and a political hit job, while confirming that they were involved in an undisclosed real-estate transaction. (Crow previously confirmed the vacations they took together.)
The revelations stem from two bombshell ProPublica reports that established Thomas failure to disclose decades of lavish gifts from Crow, including a real-estate deal between the two in which Crow acquired and renovated the house where Thomas mother lives, apparently rent-free.
Crow said he and Thomas have been friends for 27 years and there is nothing improper about that. A lot of people that have opinions about this seem to think that theres something wrong with this friendship, he said. You know, its possible that people are just really friends. It blows my mind that people assume that because Clarence Thomas has friends, that those friends have an angle. Clarence Thomas is one of the most honorable people Ive ever met in my life. Hes a man of incredibly high personal and moral standards.
On buying Thomas mothers house, Crow said he assumed Thomas mother was the owner of the house. (ProPublica reported the sale proceeds were split between Thomas, his mother and the family of Thomas late brother). He repeated what he told ProPublica, that his plan was to one day turn it into a museum honoring Thomas.
Regarding the improvements to the home, he said he had added a carport for her to park her car and possibly fixed some smaller issues, such as a broken toilet, but that was the extent of any improvements.
Crow says he would never try to influence Thomas on political matters and said they actually disagree on some big issues (he noted he is pro-choice, while Thomas is not). Instead, he said, they most frequently talk about their kids and Crows dog Otis, of whom he said Thomas is fond.
Do you think I would try to influence him about my point of view on that matter? he asked, referring to abortion. No, of course not. Thats insane, he told the Morning News. We have different points of view on that and probably other issues.
He also brushed off reports that he was a megadonor to Republican causes, estimating he has donated in the low number of millions in the past five years.
Crow also addressed the coverage of his collections of artifacts, which include Nazi and communist items. He is, he said, a student of history and wanted to create a library of anything that relates to American history. To present the positive elements of the country, he continued, it was necessary to show the negative parts of history as well.
Yes, I have things from bad guys, Crow said, but he says recent coverage highlighting his group of dead dictator statues and a painting by Adolf Hitler doesnt accurately reflect his collection or interest in world history.
My mom was on a ship that was sunk by Germans during World War II, he added. If you try to kill my mom, I dont like you. I mean, thats reasonably obvious. And so the idea that I could have sympathy for Nazism is insane. He said his collection of dictators grew out of an attempt to commemorate the end of the Cold War. When [Mikhail] Gorbachev was the leader of Russia, and the world changed overnight, I decided that it might be possible to get a statue of [Vladimir] Lenin to commemorate that era and our Cold War with communism. Lenin was his first statue, and then he says he sent a buyer around Eastern Europe for statues of other communist leaders. Ultimately, I ended up buying I dont know the exact number, but call it 15 or some number like that.
While he has a fairly prominent business profile (Crow Holdings is a major player in the American real estate industry, with its multifamily development arm, Trammell Crow Residential, ranked the fifth-largest developer in the U.S. in 2022), Crow says he has no desire to become famous and does not like the attention the story has brought upon him and his family.
I dont like people particularly businesspeople who constantly want to bring attention to themselves. I think its a lot about ego. And I just dont like that, he said. I want to go to Schlotzskys or Arbys, those are my kinds of places, and be a regular person.
