The Daily Beast recently published an article that is chock-full of rumors, innuendoes, and anonymous sources about the "shady finances" of Johnson's former church, First Bossier Baptist, and its pastor, Brad Jurkovich.
The piece specifically covers a lawsuit over church bylaws and spending, but Family Research Council's Tony Perkins, who is friends with Johnson and Pastor Jurkovich, says the argument was just usual church politics.
"Those were some disgruntled people who did not like a change in church direction and leadership after Pastor Brad came in," he tells AFN. "And just recently, in the last couple of weeks, the state Supreme Court dismissed the allegations."
Speaker Johnson is not even involved in the spat, but the article insists that what goes on at his former church is "crucial to understanding not just his worldview, but his identity and his character."
That angle does not surprise Perkins.
"Because Mike Johnson is a Bible-believing Christian, anything that could possibly be used to denigrate his faith is," he submits.
Meanwhile, Johnson is also taking friendly fire from some of his Republican colleagues.
"On one side, you've got the Freedom Caucus," Perkins notes. "On the other side, you have some that are barely Republicans, that are almost Democrats."
Trying to manage that, he says, is "nearly impossible." Still, Johnson is doing a good job of staying on task.
"He's not paying any attention to this," Perkins asserts. "He knows where this is coming from. He's got much bigger issues to focus on. This is like water on a duck's back."
