House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) undermined ethics investigations into lawmakers by crippling a key watchdog for months, The New York Times reported on Friday afternoon.
The result was that for three months, some 4,000 complaints sent to the Office of Congressional Conduct went unanswered and uninvestigated.
"Under House rules, the Office of Congressional Conduct cannot start inquiries, hire staff members or take formal action on public complaints without a board named by the speaker. Mr. Johnson did not do so until this month, the longest delay since the office was created in 2008. And even now, he has yet to install a full complement of board members, hobbling its ability to act," reported Michael Gold. The result has been that Johnson "has mired the lone in-house independent overseer of congressional conduct in quicksand at a time when the Trump administration has been conducting a full-scale assault on independent watchdogs within the federal government."
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Johnson did not clarify why he has dragged his feet on staffing the Office of Congressional Conduct.
All of this comes at a time, the report noted, that "Republicans in Congress have shown little interest in flexing their investigatory muscles on the Trump administration. Instead they have preemptively ceded their oversight and spending powers to a president eager to blow past any check or balance."
Even with the office now staffed, there are two vacancies on the six-member board, meaning that the current four members Johnson appointed must be unanimous in any decision to make reports.
While Johnson has left this key watchdog in a weakened state, he has personally leveled threats against Democratic lawmakers, suggesting members who joined protests against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New Jersey could be expelled.