One windy night at Elon Musk’s SpaceX facility in McGregor, Texas, Lonnie LeBlanc and his co-workers realized they had a problem.

They needed to transport foam insulation to the rocket company’s main hangar but had no straps to secure the cargo. LeBlanc, a relatively new employee, offered a solution to hold down the load: He sat on it.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote Thursday to approve subpoenas for two influential conservative political figures: judicial activist Leonard Leo and Harlan Crow, a Republican megadonor whose close friendship with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has drawn intense scrutiny.

The panel’s Democratic majority says the subpoenas are necessary in response to Leo’s and Crow’s “defensive, dismissive refusals” to fully cooperate with its ethics investigation into the Supreme Court.

At least one member of the Supreme Court told Justice Clarence Thomas that there was no problem accepting privately paid luxury trips and other lavish gifts from “close personal friends” without disclosing them, according to a statement issued earlier this month by Justice Thomas. Whoever it was — names were not disclosed — gave him stunningly tone-deaf advice, given the uproar that followed when ProPublica reported that the justice had for more than 20 years accepted lavish gifts and trips from a billionaire conservative friend.

In late June 2019, right after the U.S. Supreme Court released its final opinion of the term, Justice Clarence Thomas boarded a large private jet headed to Indonesia. He and his wife were going on vacation: nine days of island-hopping in a volcanic archipelago on a superyacht staffed by a coterie of attendants and a private chef.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has issued a ruling in his own favor – allowing himself make use of luxury jets, a mega-yacht, and stunning retreats all owned by the same real estate magnate.

The powerful Justice, who has found new sway on the 6-3 conservative court, has accepted the 'hospitality' of real estate billionaire Harlan Crow for 20 years, enjoying luxurious vacations and transport that he would not be able to afford on his $285,000 per year salary.

Democrats are voicing outrage following a report that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepted luxury trips for more than two decades from a Republican mega-donor without disclosing them.

ProPublica reported on Thursday that Harlan Crow, a Dallas-based real estate developer who has donated millions to conservative causes, paid for Thomas to join various vacations, including trips on Harlan’s private jet and 162-foot yacht.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said his committee “will act” following the report.

The House Ethics Committee has established an investigative subcommittee to look into issues surrounding Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who has admitted to numerous fabrications about his background and faced scrutiny over his campaign and personal finances, the panel announced Thursday.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is under congressional investigation, the House Ethics Committee announced in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

“The Acting Chairwoman and Acting Ranking Member of the Committee on Ethics have jointly decided to extend the matter regarding Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, which was transmitted to the Committee by the Office of Congressional Ethics on June 23, 2022,” the committee said in a statement.

Pennsylvania Lt. Governor and Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman purchased a $75,000 property in Braddock from his own nonprofit for a mere $1,100, according to a complaint from the Center for Accountability and Government Ethics.

Rudy Giuliani, who served as former President Donald Trump’s attorney, has been notified that he is under criminal investigation in Georgia for matters related to the 2020 presidential election.

Giuliani’s lawyers revealed on Monday that they had been informed that he is a “target” in Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis’ investigation into efforts to overturn the election results.