House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) responded on Sunday to a report by The Daily Beast that highlighted his apparent lack of a bank account on his financial disclosure.

The response, however, did not actually answer whether he had one.

Fox News Sunday moderator Shannon Bream pressed Johnson on whether he had a bank account, citing a Vanity Fair write-up of The Daily Beast’s report and noting that “there’s been so much made about it.”

“Can you clear that up for us?” Bream asked.

Johnson did not.

“Look, I’m a man of modest means,” Johnson said. “I was a lawyer, but I did constitutional law, and most of my career has been in the nonprofit sector. We have four kids, five now, that are very active. And I have kids in graduate school, law school, undergraduate. We have a lot of expenses, but I can relate to everybody else. My father was a firefighter, right? I didn’t grow up with great means. But I think that helps us to be a better leader because we can relate to every hard-working American family. That’s who we are. And I think it governs and helps govern my decisions and how I lead.”

  • PeleSpirit@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    We have four kids, five now,

    What? If that adopted son is real, I feel so bad for him. My guess is, he was so used to lying about everything that he didn’t think this would ever come back to haunt him. Or is he saying he just hired the actor to play the son?

    Also, as a House dude, don’t you have to disclose your financial situation legally?

    • Telorand@reddthat.com
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      1 year ago

      Yep. It’s required for accounts totalling more than $5000, because a poor politician is easier to buy off than a rich one.

      So unless he’s flat broke (unlikely for a Republican), he’s hiding assets.

      • hdnsmbt@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        a poor politician is easier to buy off than a rich one.

        Nice thought but probably not true. See literally any US politician. Or Supreme Court judge.

        • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          “A man with a lot of Ivory is less likely to be an Ivory hunter than a man with no Ivory!”

            • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Yeah I don’t understand this logic either. You have to follow a higher ethical standard the lower you are in practice. Our political system should reflect what the real world is.

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Or is he saying he just hired the actor to play the son?

      That would be hilarious. Some little person who pulls off his mask and starts talking with an Eastern European accent. Lights up a smoke. “I left homeland for this”.