Mike Johnson 'clearly violating federal laws' with 'laughable' filings: ethics complaint

House speaker Mike Johnson and his wife's finances are the subject of a new ethics complaint filed by a government watchdog.

The left-leaning nonprofit and advocacy group End Citizens United filed a complaint with the House Ethics Committee, presenting multiple potential violations in his financial disclosures, just hours after The Daily Beast published a deep dive Monday evening into the Louisiana Republican and his wife's income and other discrepancies in their reported finances.

“The American people deserve to know whether the Speaker of the House has financial conflicts of interests, but Speaker Johnson is clearly violating federal laws by hiding critical information from the public,” said Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United. “It’s laughable to believe that the person leading government funding negotiations doesn’t have a reportable savings or retirement account. But beyond his own potential financial mismanagement, failing to disclose travel and his spouse’s sources of income is against the law and the Office of Congressional Ethics must investigate and hold him accountable.”

Johnson's office responded to The Daily Beast minutes after the story published, and a full 24 hours after a deadline provided for comment, to say they had not had time to review detailed questions for the report – which runs to nearly 4,000 words – that a reporter had sent Friday afternoon.

“Everything we learn about Johnson’s finances raises more questions," said Jordan Libowitz, communications director for watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "When comparing his state filings to the federal ones to what’s been previously reported, things quite literally don’t add up."

Johnson raised eyebrows, to say the least, when he claimed to have never had a bank account but offered no additional explanation, and Libowitz and other watchdogs say the gaps in his financial disclosures are highly unusual.

“It’s hard to tell just how much money Johnson has made and why, when he lives in such a low cost of living area, that money doesn’t show up in his disclosures,” Libowitz said. "[He can't] wave his hands and make this go away. The questions will keep piling up until he answers them."