The leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, the person who is second in the presidential line of succession, has been accused of illegally paying rent to East County Rep. Darrell Issa from campaign cash, two complaints filed with federal regulators show.

Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana and his campaign “appear to have used campaign funds to rent Johnson a personal residence, a clear-cut violation of federal campaign finance laws that prohibit using campaign funds to pay for personal expenses,” the Federal Elections Commission complaint alleges.

The complaint was filed earlier this month by the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan government-watchdog nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.

The oversight group also submitted a complaint to the Office of Congressional Conduct, which until this year was called the Office of Congressional Ethics, the independent entity that reviews allegations of misconduct against House members and staff.

According to the Campaign Legal Center, Johnson’s campaign committee began paying $2,500 a month to Issa this past March for a Washington, D.C., property he uses as a residence.

Federal law prohibits legislators from using campaign funds for personal expenses. Johnson’s campaign said the payments are strictly for office space, but the complaint says lawmakers are not permitted to live in office space.

“Even if the campaign argues that the rent is for a campaign-related office, the candidate cannot live in the campaign office such that the campaign is paying or subsidizing the candidate’s personal rent,” the Office of Congressional Conduct complaint says.

The landlord-tenant arrangement between Issa and Johnson began weeks after ProPublica reported that Johnson was sharing a multimillion-dollar townhouse blocks from the U.S. Capitol with an evangelical pastor and that the property was owned by a wealthy Republican party donor.

About the same time, Issa told a reporter for Semafor that Johnson was “a friend and needed a place,” the complaints assert.

Johnson’s office directed questions to his political team, which confirmed the payments from a campaign account but said the property was being rented as office space — not a personal residence.

“The amount paid by the campaign is exclusively for a separate campaign office space, at fair market value, with its own entrance, stairwell and access to the street that is used strictly for campaign business,” spokesperson Greg Steele said by email.

“It is common practice for members to have campaign office space in Washington paid by the campaign, and is in full compliance with the law,” he said.

But the complaints note that Johnson has not reported campaign spending on office space in the nation’s capital until this year.

“There is, accordingly, no indication in the Johnson campaign committee’s disclosure reports that Johnson’s campaign has ever rented campaign office space in the Washington, D.C., area,” the FEC complaint states.

Issa said there is nothing improper about renting the House Speaker a home with separate office space.

For starters, there is no limit on gifts exchanged between House members, he said. Issa also said the rental agreement was reached at a fair-market rate and pays for the office space in the basement of the house he bought from another member of Congress.

“The complaints are completely without any merit whatsoever,” he said. “The speaker is an incredibly ethical person. He went through a whole process before he accepted my offer and set this up.”

Issa said Congress has not granted pay raises to House members for decades, and many who serve cannot afford to maintain two households.

Issa said Johnson slept in his Washington office after he was first elected in 2016. But after he was elected speaker, Johnson began looking for more suitable housing and office space, he added.

“The president has a government-paid house, the vice president has a government-paid house, but the speaker has nothing,” Issa said. “If there’s a story here, it’s that the person next in line for the presidency, which could happen, should be in a secure location.”

Although House rules allow members of Congress to provide gifts to other members, there is strict guidance on the appearance of impropriety and required disclosures.

“If the individual providing the gift is reimbursed by a business or seeks a business expense deduction for the hospitality, that hospitality is a business expense and not personal hospitality,” House Rule 25 states.

“Similarly, any property or facilities owned by a corporation or firm, even if the individual providing the gift is the sole owner of the corporation or firm, are not personally owned by the individual and may not be used for personal hospitality,” it adds.

According to public websites, private homes in the neighborhood around the U.S. Capitol rent for $4,000 to $6,000 a month.

Johnson’s campaign said the disclosed $2,500 monthly payments to Issa’s real estate company are strictly for office space.

Issa said the $2,500 payments are for Johnson’s full use of the property.

“They are using the basement office because his (campaign’s) collaboration with his (House) office is incredibly helpful,” he said.

“I charged him what I thought he could afford,” Issa said. “I won’t call it arm’s-length — that would be ludicrous. I admire the man and thought it would be a good way to be supportive … It more than covers my cost of that home.”

Members of Congress, including the speaker, collect an annual salary of about $175,000. Johnson is reported to be among the least wealthy speakers in recent history. Issa is among the wealthiest members of Congress.

The Campaign Legal Center complaints cite a total of $12,500 in payments to Greene Properties Inc., a real estate ownership and management firm. California Secretary of State records show that Issa is the chief executive officer.

The complaints also note that additional payments may be included in future disclosures by the Johnson campaign committee.

Kedric Payne, the Campaign Legal Center vice president and general counsel, said he hopes the investigation into Johnson’s campaign spending will help curb what he says is a broad abuse of political donations by many federal lawmakers.

“For many years we have noticed a bipartisan problem in which members of Congress are using their huge war chests of campaign contributions for personal use,” he said. “When we saw the speaker may have violated this prohibition, we had no choice but to file these complaints.”

Payne said both the FEC and Office of Congressional Conduct should do more to hold elected officials responsible for violations.

“This is one of those situations where the legislation is clear, but the enforcement is not happening,” he said. “We definitely worry that accountability is elusive. The enforcement in this case would be that Congress investigates and then finds that this is a violation.”

Johnson, a conservative lawyer who previously served as a Louisiana state representative, was elected to his state’s 4th Congressional District in 2016, the same campaign cycle that first sent Donald Trump to the White House.

He became the 56th speaker in his fourth term, beating other higher-profile candidates. Johnson is a member of the House Freedom Caucus and was among nearly 150 Republicans who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Issa was first elected to Congress in 2000, when he won a North County seat. He served nine terms but decided not to seek re-election in 2018 after constituents repeatedly gathered outside his Vista offices, complaining about his representation.

In 2019, he announced he would challenge then-Rep. Duncan Hunter, who was fending off a federal investigation into his handling of campaign donations.

Hunter insisted he did nothing wrong for two years but pleaded guilty to felony misuse of campaign donations in late 2019. He resigned from Congress and was sentenced to 11 months in prison, but was pardoned by Trump in the waning days of his first term.

Issa won the 2020 race for Hunter’s former district and returned to Congress in 2021.

Federal regulators reviewing the complaints against Johnson declined to comment on the allegations that he misused campaign donations.

The FEC is a regulatory office that may impose fines or other issue penalties. The Office of Congressional Conduct reviews allegations of misconduct and refers valid complaints to the House Committee on Ethics, which may or may not take action.

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