(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



Mike Johnson Grabs the MAGA Spotlight [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-10-30  

I suffer from the political misfortune of living in Louisiana--in Mike Johnson’s deep red District 4, no less. So I’ve seen the work of this self-styled “Constitutional Scholar” up close and personal—through research in out-of-the-way Louisiana-based websites like Democracy Docket and The Bayou Brief and face to face in several recent town hall meetings. These meetings in hamlets like Coushatta and Arcadia (near where Bonny and Clyde met their bloody fate) were certainly worth the price of admission, as Mark Twain would say.

In a state where one of Johnson’s colleagues in the U.S. House is one Clay Higgins, the self-styled “Cajun John Wayne” who literally throws his weight around against non-Maga journalists asking the wrong questions, the new Speaker of the House might seem to non-Louisianians like a kinder, gentler brand of Trump stooge. But of course he isn’t either.

Johnson wants a national ban on abortion, and has hinted birth control should also be illegal. He wants to end LGBT rights. He never met an assault rifle on which he didn’t salivate. He endorses something he calls “Biblical Law.” And, of course, he’s a traitor who led the charge of the hard-core election deniers in Congress who voted against certifying the legitimate electoral votes electing Biden even after Trump’s attempt to overthrow American democracy on January 6, 2021.

And then there’s that Russian money that ended up in Johnson’s campaign war chest. That’s right: rubles from Putin’s crony Konstantin Nikolaev were discovered in Mike Johnson’s pocket. And the Federal Communications Commission affirmed the existence of that illegal contribution in reaction to my filing of a complaint about what I had discovered. I received their official and final finding via certified mail on September 27, 2022.

The FEC made Johnson return the Putin money (in three separate checks totaling $6,100.) That may not seem like much in our post-Citizens United Supreme Court ruling to open the floodgates to anonymous political donations of any amount to “PACs.” But that six grand Johnson got was only what is known in the criminal world as “a taste” bribe. Who knows how much Johnson would have netted when the Oligarchs offered him a seven-course cash meal?

The FEC also fined Johnson $9,500 and made him promise not to take Russian money again. It added up to a slap on the wrist, but Mike Johnson felt the sting.

And the new Speaker will soon feel the slings and arrows that come with being promoted to captain in a battle his rabid insurrectionists are sure to lose.

You can read the results of the FEC’s finding against Mike Johnson here:

fec.gov

Legal Resources, Enforcement, Search Closed MURs

search MUR 7491 American Ethan Co, LLC, et.al , Conciliation Agreement

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/30/2202533/-Mike-Johnson-Grabs-the-MAGA-Spotlight?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/