Joshua Kaplan
Appearances
Apple News Today
Speaker Johnson has a roommate — and he has a big agenda
It's a $3.7 million townhouse blocks from the U.S. Capitol building that's owned by a major GOP donor.
Apple News Today
Speaker Johnson has a roommate — and he has a big agenda
And this house is also the headquarters of a political influence project that, until our story came out, had managed to stay completely out of public view.
Apple News Today
Speaker Johnson has a roommate — and he has a big agenda
He's very opposed to gay marriage, to pornography, to sex between unmarried adults. He's called the separation of church and state a, quote, delusional lie. He has advocated for numerous specific policy changes on topics ranging from fuel efficiency regulations to a bill that would make it easier to fire federal workers. And he also called for Congress to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Apple News Today
Speaker Johnson has a roommate — and he has a big agenda
Berger has said differently. He doesn't talk much about his conversations with lawmakers, but he has described talking with Johnson on a few topics, things like Israel.
Apple News Today
Speaker Johnson has a roommate — and he has a big agenda
As early as 2022, he said he had gotten a text from a senator thanking him for the inspiration that led this senator to create a bill. He's also described a number of policy issues he's discussed with lawmakers. So I guess the question is, does he have quite the influence that he claims to have? Exactly how much his project has moved the needle on national policy is
Apple News Today
Speaker Johnson has a roommate — and he has a big agenda
It's something we don't really know at this point.
Apple News Today
Speaker Johnson has a roommate — and he has a big agenda
Meadows said, and I'm paraphrasing here, that I've confessed things to Steve that I wouldn't normally confess to anyone else.
Apple News Today
Speaker Johnson has a roommate — and he has a big agenda
To live in a house like this, that close to someone who is explicitly trying to shape national policy... is pretty remarkable. But the specifics of what these men talk about and the conversations going on inside this home are still a bit of a mystery.