Mike Johnson's Campaign Contributions From Company Tied to Russia

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.

Johnson's previous Russian campaign donations have been brought up as people criticize the Republican following his election to House Speaker, a position which is second in line to the presidency behind the vice president.

Johnson's office has been contacted for comment via email.

Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson on October 25, 2023, in Washington, D.C. Johnson's campaign in 2018 was given thousands of dollars by a company predominantly owned by Russian nationals. Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla

One of the men behind the company, Nikolaev, an oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was also found to have financially backed Maria Butina, a Russian citizen who lived in Washington D.C. Butina was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2019 after admitting to acting as an unregistered foreign agent to infiltrate conservative political groups and influence foreign policy to Russia's benefit before and after the 2016 election.

Johnson's former campaign manager, Jason Hebert, previously told The Advocate that the campaign returned the money given to them by American Ethane in 2018 once it was "made aware of the situation."

Sharing a subpoena issued as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation in 2018, Los Angeles-based attorney Ronald Lebow posted on X (formerly Twitter): "Besides being supportive of the attempted coup, Johnson received money from Russian Oligarchs and was known to Marina Butina, the Russian spy/go between funneling money from Putin to the NRA and Republicans like Johnson."

Fellow X user @Davegreenidge57 wrote: "Putin pal Konstantin Nikolaev, who handled Russian spy Maria Butina, was also the principal stockholder in American Ethane Co. when they donated over $37,000 to Mike Johnson's election campaign. Does anyone else think that might be a problem?"

It is against federal law 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 Federal Election Commission investigation ruled in 2022 that American Ethane made political campaign contributions using funds derived from loans from foreign entities ultimately owned by Russian nationals and that American Ethane had "zero domestic funds available" to make those contributions.

In a scathing letter, two FEC commissioners, Democrats Shana M. Broussard and Ellen L. Weintraub, condemned their Republican colleagues after the agency only fined American Ethane a $9,500 civil penalty for donating to GOP candidates in Louisiana in 2018 despite being almost entirely owned by Russian nationals.

"Though American Ethane did pay a civil penalty, it was a slap on the wrist that failed to account for a violation of one the most fundamental provisions entrusted to this Commission to enforce," wrote Broussard and Weintraub.

"One can only hope that in future cases, the Commission will once again muster the political will to work together to wall off our elections from the malign influence of foreign money."