Mike Johnson’s campaign donations have come back to haunt him as scrutiny of Russians donating to his coffers before he became Speaker after he and his caucus refused the needed 60 billion USD funding for Ukraine to defend themselves from the war crimes of Vladimir Putin.
It was the murder of Alexei Navalny by Putin in a Siberian gulag that sparked scrutiny by some media outlets. Because of the crimes of the former occupier of the Oval Office, the assassination of Navalny, and fast-moving news from climate to immigration, the finances of Mike Johnson escaped the attention it deserved.
“Vladimir Putin is a vicious dictator and the world knows he is likely directly responsible for the sudden death of his most prominent political opponent, Alexei Navalny. Putin has shown his willingness to use extreme measures, including the use of radioactive material, to attack his enemies and expand his power." Mike Johnson is a foot soldier for Putin and Trump, bullshitting the world on the death of Navalny.
As climate activists may recall, American Ethane is a United States-based company headquartered in Houston, TX. It is building an export facility on the Neches River in Beaumont, Texas. American Ethane sounds as American as apple pie, but it is not. The company helped fund Johnson’s election in 2018 with donations from some of Putin’s favorite vicious oligarchs.
Ethane, a colourless, odourless, gaseous hydrocarbon (compound of hydrogen and carbon), belonging to the paraffin series; its chemical formula is C2H6. Ethane is structurally the simplest hydrocarbon that contains a single carbon–carbon bond. The second most important constituent of natural gas, it also occurs dissolved in petroleum oils and as a by-product of oil refinery operations and of the carbonization of coal.
Ethane does not remain in the atmosphere long, as do other hydrocarbons presently killing the biosphere.
In 2018, a group of Russians were able to donate to Johnson's bid for the Louisiana seat he eventually won as the money was funneled through the Texas-based American Ethane company.
While American Ethane was co-founded by American John Houghtaling, at the time it was 88 percent owned by three Russian nationals—Konstantin Nikolaev, Mikhail Yuriev, and Andrey Kunatbaev. Nikolaev is known to be a top ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A spokesperson for Johnson previously assured in 2018 that the campaign returned the money that was given to them by American Ethane once it was "made aware of the situation." There was no indication that Johnson's campaign team willfully broke federal law, which makes it illegal for a campaign to knowingly accept donations from a foreign-owned corporation, a foreign national, or any company owned or controlled by foreign nationals.
A number of social media users have now brought up the campaign money amid Johnson's opposition to the long-debated foreign aid bill, which would send $60 billion to Ukraine as the country continues to fight off Russia's invasion.
According to reporting by the Daily Beast, Mike Johnson has had no checking or savings account for at least eight years.
At least, that’s what Johnson reports on years of personal financial disclosures, which date back to 2016 and reveal a financial life that, in the context of his role as a congressman and now speaker, appears extraordinarily precarious.
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. In fact, he doesn’t appear to have money stashed in any investments, with his latest filing—covering 2022—showing no assets whatsoever.
Of course, it’s unlikely Johnson doesn’t actually have a bank account. What’s more likely is Johnson lives paycheck to paycheck—so much so that he doesn’t have enough money in his bank account to trigger the checking account disclosure rules for members of Congress.
snip
It’s certainly not uncommon for Americans to have less than $5,000 in their bank account. Most Americans—57 percent—couldn’t handle an unexpected $1,000 expense, according to a report earlier this year. And the median amount that Americans keep in their bank account is $5,300. But Johnson’s household income puts him in the top 12 percent of earners in the United States. And it’s extraordinarily rare for members of Congress to not list a qualifying bank account—let alone zero assets whatsoever.
Houston-based American Ethane Co. touts itself as a "U.S.-based energy company." But a newly revised lobbying disclosure shows three Russian businessmen own nearly 90 percent of the company.
The company’s lobbyist revised its filings with Congress last month as it was being linked to an unfolding spy scandal that has drawn in the Kremlin and the National Rifle Association.
The filings now show that Konstantin Nikolaev, Mikhail Yuriev and Andrey Kunatbaev together own 88 percent of the fuel-export company. On previous disclosures dating back to 2014, company representatives had indicated there was no substantial foreign control.
Nikolaev has been linked in news reports to Maria Butina, the Russian woman accused of acting as an unregistered agent of her government. In a July 22 story, The Washington Post quoted a source as saying Butina had told the Senate Intelligence Committee she’d received financial support from Nikolaev.
American Ethane played a prominent role in a trade ceremony during President Trump’s November trip to Beijing. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping looked on as executives signed 15 trade deals. One of them was American Ethane CEO John Houghtaling II, signing a $26 billion deal to sell ethane to China.
Houghtaling, a New Orleans lawyer, and the company’s lobbyist Kyle Ruckert, former chief of staff to former Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), didn’t return messages left yesterday. American Ethane has also been represented by Sander Resources and Barbour Griffith & Rogers.
The company website lists Nikolaev as a member of the company’s board of directors, along with Kunatbaev.
Yuriev, a former Russian politician and businessman, is not. It’s not clear who owns the remaining 12 percent, but The Guardianreported that Alexander Voloshin, a former aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has a "secret investment" in American Ethane.
The Guardian in the same story reported that Voloshin is part of a consortium of Russian investors that at one point included the oligarch and billionaire Roman Abramovich.
It’s safe to assume it was Russia that helped put Trump in office. Wouldn’t you agree?
The GOP lawmakers, Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.), Steve Daines (Mont.), John Thune (S.D.), John Kennedy (La.), Jerry Moran (Kan.) and John Hoeven (N.D.), and Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), spent July 4 in Moscow’s U.S. Embassy, NPR reported.
“Paul Manafort was chair of the Trump campaign for part of 2016. Kilimnik had worked for him in Ukraine. U.S. officials say Kilimnik is a Russian spy.”
Mikhail Zinovyevich Yuryev (Russian: Михаил Зиновьевич Юрьев; 10 April 1959 – 15 February 2019) was a Russian politician who served as a member of the State Duma between 1996 and 1999.[1]
Yuryev came from a Jewish family. His father Zinovy Yuryev was a science fiction writer, and his mother Yelena Korenevskaya was a journalist. After graduating from the MSU Faculty of Biology Mikhail Yuryev worked at the Institute of Molecular Genetics. In 1995-1999 he was a deputy of the 2nd State Duma, a member of the Yabloko faction. Yuryev was one of the Deputy Chairmen of the State Duma under Gennady Seleznyov's chairmanship. Yuryev was an advocate of isolationism.[2]
Vladimir Putin’s former chief of staff has a secret investment in an American energy company hailed by Donald Trump as creating jobs for American workers.
Alexander Voloshin– who served as Boris Yeltsin’s chief of staff before working for Putin between 2000 and 2003 – has an undisclosed stake in American Ethane, a Houston-based firm that recently signed a multibillion dollar export deal with China.
Voloshin is part of a consortium of Russian investors in American Ethane that at one point included the oligarch and billionaire Roman Abramovich.
Will the press ask about the Russians who helped put Johnson in office? Newsweek has stepped up; I’ve seen little from other media outlets.
When I was kidnapped as a 4 year old and forced to live under apartheid until my rescue, I committed myself to never accept evil as an adult. I won't accept this genocide in Ukraine now or ever. My message for Mike Johnson, MAGA, and all the parasites of power in D.C.: pic.twitter.com/IHTNavApBw
Washington (CNN) — A binder containing highly classified information related to Russian election interference went missing at the end of Donald Trump’s presidency, raising alarms among intelligence officials that some of the most closely guarded national security secrets from the US and its allies could be exposed, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Its disappearance, which has not been previously reported, was so concerning that intelligence officials briefed Senate Intelligence Committee leaders last year about the missing materials and the government’s efforts to retrieve them, the sources said.
In the two-plus years since Trump left office, the missing intelligence does not appear to have been found.
The binder contained raw intelligence the US and its NATO allies collected on Russians and Russian agents, including sources and methods that informed the US government’s assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Trump win the 2016 election, sources tell CNN.
