Where Is Speaker Johnson’s Money? He Claims No Bank Accounts

I ran across this tidbit and blew past it. But it stuck in my mind so I went back and read the story and it does raise some interesting questions. When Mike Johnson emerged from the House GOP cluster-f**k of a process of choosing a new Speaker even a lot of fellow House Republicans said “Who is Mike Johnson?” Oh, he’s been around for a little while, having blow off the pledge he signed to limit the number of terms he’d serve. For those who’ve forgotten that was a fad that grew out of the Tea Bagger Party revolution. Promising to go to DC to “clean house” and coming back home. A couple of terms, then if they couldn’t “git er done” (to quote Larry the Cable Guy) hand things over to someone else. If anyone of the large number of these asshats actually honored that pledge they were few and far between. Mike Johnson, now Speaker Johnson was one of the “What Pledge?” crowd.

In any case in the past week there’s been a whole bunch of journalists and politicians (including as I said some of his fellow GOPers) digging into just who Mike Johnson is and what he stands for other than being (as a Republican) a super hard-core conservative. Within days the buyer’s remorse seemed palatable. He might not be the bomb thrower Gym Jordan is but in many respects he’s worse. Like I’ve pointed out is the case with Ohio’s John Kasich he’s a fanatic but boy does he have the ability to come across as mild mannered and oh-so-reasonable on camera. Anyway there’s been lots written about Johnson’s positions and actions (and his wife’s) on a variety of issue that are front and center for voters.

Alternet chose to look at something different and published an article about Johnson’s finances. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say lack thereof. According to his financial disclosures going back some years Johnson has no bank accounts! Yes, you read that correctly. The linked article cites reporting from the Daily Beast that looked at Johnson’s Financial Disclosures as far back as 2016:

Over the course of seven years, Johnson has never reported a checking or savings account in his name, nor in the name of his wife or any of his children, disclosures show.”

That same reporter went on to state that Johnson also didn’t list any investments in his latest (2022) disclosure. Now to be fair not every Congress Critter, especially in the House is rich (almost all Senators are/have been) but Johnson makes a nice salary (which took a bump when he became Speaker) and his wife has income from two sources. So they do in fact have an income that’s far more than eighty-plus, or even ninety percent of Americans have which begs the question where the hell does it all go? Sure, maintaining a residence in both the home district and DC can get expensive. And yes, Louisiana has it’s share of expensive communities but still… Sollenberger suggests Johnson does in fact have at least one bank account, but that he lives “paycheck to paycheck” (like many Americans) and doesn’t have enough in the bank to trigger the requirement for inclusion on his Financial Disclosure.

Remember, this is a guy who’s been in Congress for multiple terms getting a quite nice salary and all manner of perks including largess from lobbyists. Add in the fact his wife has her own income which given her work is probably pretty good and you have to wonder how well they can manage their personal finances, much less have Johnson suddenly in control of a huge amount of money that it takes to run the Capitol complex and the House. And of course negotiate national budget stuff.  I for one think this is a question that deserves plenty more looking into and I’m not the only one:

Jordan Libowitz, communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), argues that if Johnson lacks assets despite earning a congressman’s salary, it “raises questions about his personal financial wellbeing.”

Now here’s an awful thought. Perhaps Johnson has been hiding assets. He was one of many who got caught up in the 2018 scandal of Russia funneling money to GOP candidates via the NRA. And yes good ole Maria Butina (remember her?) was involved.  As this Occupy Democrats article notes:

“Besides being supportive of the attempted coup, Johnson received money from Russian Oligarchs and was known to Marina Butina, the Russian spy/go between funneling money from Putin to the NRA and Republicans like Johnson.”

Keep in mind that Johnson is one of too many Republicans trying to curtail if not cut off aid to Ukraine, just as puppet Master Putin wants. Ok, so Johnson like some others was, when the Russian money was revealed to be Russian gave it back. The thing is that Butina was pretty well known in GOP circles. And the company that made the donations to Johnson and other GOPers in LA and TX was owned by three oligarchs. You think perhaps they, or their subordinates gave some advice on creating hard to trace offshore accounts to squirrel away money?

Ok, so I’ve slipped into CT territory here. I’ll admit that. But Johnson changed his tune rather suddenly on Ukraine and I for one wonder why?  Now he’s sticking to his guns and trying to separate out aid from Ukraine from aid to Israel even though there’s solid bipartisan support for both. Putin’s not dead. At least not yet. And even if he is dead and a body double is (or will be) carrying on there’s still be the issue of who would at some point take over. A lot of very rich and powerful Russians beholden to Putin have a vested interest and their very lives in keeping things the way they are and that means continuing their disastrous war in Ukraine.

So again I say it’s time to do some really serious digging into Johnson’s finances. He’s got a mortgage and other financial obligations and apparently not enough money in a bank account to trigger having to report even having a freaking bank account!  Just how vulnerable is he financially?

It could well be that a time will come that House Republicans who in recent days have been feeling pangs of buyer’s remorse will look back fondly on this time. Johnson could turn out to be a sh*t bomb that blows up all over the GOP.