The Louisiana Republican's team previously said it returned all the money it received from a company predominantly owned by Russian nationals in 2018.

A group of Russian nationals were able to donate to newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson’s campaign in 2018 by funneling the money through a U.S. company.

The Texas-based American Ethane company previously donated tens of thousands of dollars to the campaigns of Louisiana Republicans including Johnson, who was voted by the House to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy as Speaker on Wednesday following three weeks of GOP chaos in the lower chamber.

While American Ethane was run in 2018 by American John Houghtaling, 88 percent of the firm was owned by three Russian nationals—Konstantin Nikolaev, Mikhail Yuriev, and Andrey Kunatbaev.

  • Bonifratz
    7•1 year ago

    Slightly off topic, but I’ve been wondering: Is the “a single member of the House can call a vote to remove the Speaker” rule still in effect, or did things go back to default after McCarthy’s removal?

    • @dhorkEnglish
      8•1 year ago

      Since I haven’t heard anything to the contrary, I assume the single-member requirement is still in place.

      That single member requirement is actually the “default”, historically. Pelosi had it changed when she became Speaker (with a similarly slim margin) so that you needed a majority from either party to make the motion. McCarthy simply changed it back.