Justice Clarence Thomas is joining public criticism of Joe Biden whose handling of Thomas' 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings when he was a senator has been a flash point in the former vice president's 2020 presidential campaign.
In a forthcoming documentary, "Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words," Thomas lashes out at Democrats and Biden, who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee and oversaw his confirmation process.
"I felt as though in my life I had been looking at the wrong people as the people who would be problematic toward me. We were told that, 'Oh, it's gonna be the bigot in the pickup truck; it's gonna be the Klansmen; it's gonna be the rural sheriff,'" Thomas says in the film.
"But it turned out that through all of that, ultimately the biggest impediment was the modern day liberal," he said of the experience. "They were the ones who would discount all those things because they have one issue or because they have the power to caricature you."
ABC News was granted an early look at the documentary, which was produced by conservative filmmaker Michael Pack and Manifold Productions. It is set for theatrical release in early 2020 and is due to air on PBS next spring.
Thomas sat for more than 22 hours of interviews over a six-month period in 2018, according to the film's publicist. Manifold has advertised the movie as a chance to "tell the Clarence Thomas story truly and fully, without cover-ups or distortions."
The movie also casts a spotlight on Biden, who has faced renewed criticism from his fellow Democrats for his treatment of Anita Hill, an African-American law professor who had accused Thomas of sexual harassment and testified publicly before the committee during the 1991 hearings. Biden called Hill to apologize earlier this year for his handling of the case.
Thomas has categorically denied Hill's allegations.
"Do I have like stupid written on the back of my shirt? I mean come on. We know what this is all about," Thomas says in the film. "People should just tell the truth: 'This is the wrong black guy; he has to be destroyed.' Just say it. Then now we're at least honest with each other."
"The idea was to get rid of me," he says. "And then after I was there, it was to undermine me."