On Tuesday, Mike Johnson was praying over what to do about Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Johnson gave his news conference saying Ukraine was worth losing his speakership.

Here’s what happened in between.
thefuckingnews.substack.com/p/johnsons-com…
You can read the full article, and support this and upcoming reporting, by subscribing at .

And a big hat tip to @NastyOldWomyn, who flagged the key piece of this one.

Here's what we know...thefuckingnews.substack.com

Speaker Mike Johnson is calling it "abhorrent" for Pres. Biden to name today "Transgender Day of Visibility Day."

Because it's Easter.

Johnson said Biden "betrayed the central tenet of Easter." Trump's campaign said Christians -- but also Catholics! -- believe today is "for one celebration only"...

..."the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

But is it? Did Biden REALLY betray Easter's central tenet...?

The House impeachment of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is expected to go to the Senate this week.

I dug into the staffers who put together the House impeachment report. THREAD...

(BTW, all of my stories on this can be found at . If you need a family-friendly URL, there's .

Either way, you can make sure not to miss future reporting by becoming a subscriber. Thanks!)

Back to the thread...thefuckingnews.substack.com
jonathanlarsen.substack.com

Gonna live-tweet this morning's National Prayer Breakfast.

...starting with a reminder you can support my reporting on this event and the people behind it by subscribing: .

Okay, NOW let's start with the story I broke last night...thefuckingnews.substack.com Last night I reported that today's prayer breakfast will be held, for the first time, INSIDE the Capitol building.

Statuary Hall, just off the rotunda...

...in the HOUSE section overseen by Speaker Johnson. Meaning he had to approve this.
thefuckingnews.substack.com/p/prayer-break…

BREAKING: @RepMarkPocan, as chair of the Equality Caucus, just launched the most aggressive official inquiry ever into The Family and the National Prayer breakfast.

The NPB is Thursday in DC -- but Pocan wants answers about the entire global operation.
thefuckingnews.substack.com/p/pocan-takes-…
Here's the Congressional Equality Caucus press release... with a link to Pocan's letter...

...announcing that he wrote to the board chair of the Fellowship Foundation, aka The Family...

...which started the National Prayer Breakfast in 1953.
lgbtq.house.gov/media-center/p…

On Feb. 2, Reps. Tim Walberg and Lucy McBath co-chaired the U.S. National Prayer Breakfast (NPB).

On Oct. 8, Walberg told the Ugandan National Prayer Breakfast to “stand firm” against U.S. pressure to repeal its LGBTQ+ death penalty.

Here’s the story.

Walberg then used his role as co-chair to justify the House Ethics Committee approving his trip to deliver Uganda's National Prayer Breakfast keynote speech…

…A trip paid for by the Fellowship Foundation, aka The Family.
tyt.com/reports/inside…

@LisaDNews A lot of journalists are missing the root of Johnson’s ostensibly unusual tone and message.

It comes off as “intimate” because he’s talking, without admitting the extent of it, about his religious beliefs.

He’s done this shtick before…

h/t @wthrockmorton @LisaDNews @wthrockmorton In those same 2021 remarks, Johnson explained why he’s committed to (his version of) those governing principles.

Because he thinks he sees them in the Bible.

Which means he’s right and people who disagree are wrong.

NEW: Uganda's about to enact an LGBTQ+ death penalty.

I found that The Family, the group Biden greeted at the National Prayer Breakfast...

...is still tied to the Ugandan network pushing this bill.
tyt.com/reports/franch… As I reported for @TYTreports last year, Uganda's Oct. National Prayer Breakfast was a rally...

...led by Pres. Museveni...

...against western pressure for LGBTQ+ tolerance.

We've since unearthed new details tying The Family to this specific event.
tyt.com/reports/2E4lb3…

NEW: @RepGosar broke a key rule of the very first "new" National Prayer Breakfast...by bringing @KariLake as his guest.

Then Gosar's office blamed Jesus.

There's...shall we say...more...
tyt.com/reports/2E4lb3… @RepGosar @KariLake Before the 2023 NPB, the board president of the new event, former Sen. Mark Pryor told me the new rules.

No more extremist backers, like Franklin Graham.

And members of Congress could bring one guest: Spouse or constituent. That's it.
tyt.com/reports/2E4lb3…

BREAKING: After 70 years, The Family is dropping the National Prayer Breakfast.

The secretive Christian group says it has ended its involvement in the event, which is now being run by a new nonprofit group.

But the devil's in the details...
tyt.com/reports/2E4lb3… I first reported yesterday that this year's event would split the audience...

...politicians on the Hill...

...The Family and its guests watching on TV at the Hilton.

Which apparently will be permanent from now on.
tyt.com/reports/2E4lb3…

NEW: The Family appears to be making big changes for next week's National Prayer Breakfast...

...after multiple revelations by TYT were followed by high-profile Democratic defections.

I got details on those changes (and secular org reaction) in my story: tyt.com/reports/2E4lb3… The Family wouldn't confirm the changes but said they'll have a statement by tonight.

Here's what we know now. An online invitation only lists two days of events, not four, as they've had in the past.

Why does that matter?

NEW: I asked @JimObergefell about the Respect for Marriage Act now in the Senate.

He said he's "thrilled" about codifying into law the Supreme Court ruling that bears his name.

"But," he said, "I do have some concerns."
tyt.com/reports/7015be… I asked Obergefell, the namesake for the landmark same-sex marriage ruling from the Supreme Court, how he feels about the RFMA.

He said he's "thrilled." But...

BREAKING: Former regulator blames record Big Oil profits on Wall Street.

Why?

Because Citigroup, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Goldman Sachs have driven up gas prices via unregulated swaps trades.
tyt.com/stories/7015be… We first reported back in May how this works.

Wall St. carved out a loophole that let them bet--UNregulated--on commodity-based swaps.

It's become so massive--Hundred$ of trillion$--that it overwhelms the REAL market of oil by the barrel.
tyt.com/stories/53PsQv…

For years, journalist @JeffSharlet laid out one revelation after another about how the Fellowship Foundation, aka The Family, worked with right-wing leaders around the world.

Running the National Prayer Breakfast helped The Family's efforts...
npr.org/2009/11/24/120… @JeffSharlet The Family has also been helped by Democrats, who give the National Prayer Breakfast a (false) imprimatur of bi- or non-partisanship...

...even though LGBTQ groups have warned Democrats about the damage they're doing.
tyt.com/stories/2E4lb3…

NEW: A handful of Democrats are eyeing a Wall Street regulatory loophole that deregulated swaps trades...

...opening the door for Wall Street traders to jack up gas, food, and other prices.
tyt.com/stories/4vZLCH… TYT first reported on the loophole's existence and its ties to inflation in May.

A former Commodity Futures Trading Commission official IDed the loophole in a 2018 paper and told me last month it's now warping commodity markets... exacerbating inflation.
tyt.com/stories/53PsQv…

NEW: The controversial CEO of Daniel Defense, which made guns used in Uvalde and Las Vegas...

...sits on the board of the gun group that employs the husband of House GOP Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik.

And there's more...
tyt.com/stories/4BD6Fm… Marvin "Marty" Daniel was already controversial for marketing his guns using kids and Christianity.

And he's had ties for years to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which in the 2022 election cycle has now topped the NRA for campaign donations.

There's a lot Biden and the Democrats can do about guns without help from Manchin and Sinema.

They just have to pursue creative policies and enforcement.

For instance, the law requires that publicly held companies disclose all financial risks.

That applies to gunmakers... As @fakeAndrewLapp and I reported in 2018, not all gunmakers disclose all their risks.

What risks do investors take on by investing in gunmakers...?
legacy.tyt.com/2018/03/20/gun…

Fantastic @berlinerblau analysis of Democrats' generational abandonment/betrayal of secular values and how that got us here.

salon.com/2022/05/14/how… One thing I'll note is that Democrats COULD have allied w/ genuine religious conservatives... who OPPOSE this clown-show churchiness.

As I reported in 2006, it was a CHRISTIAN who exposed Bush's faith-based initiatives as a fraud. Obama kept it anyway.

web.archive.org/web/2006101609…

NEW: Wall Street is helping to drive inflation... like all-time-high gas prices... w/ swaps trading of commodities.

This is the story of how Trump let them do it.

And what Democrats can do about it.
tyt.com/stories/53PsQv… I know Wall Street can drive high gas prices, because they did it before. I even reported on it the last time gas went above $4/gallon.

The Obama White House and congressional Democrats got it, and they took action. Prices came down.
nbcnews.com/id/wbna25264852

The anti-LGBTQ right-wing love affair with Russia didn't just happen.

TYT hasn't been alone on this, but I wanted to recap some of our reporting.

2018: @kenklippenstein and I reveal The Family and anti-LGBTQ allies trying to weaken Ukraine's EU ties.
legacy.tyt.com/2018/07/19/gop… Later we revealed The Family's role in Rep. Bob Aderholt's travel to Ukraine... where he met w/ lobbyists for oligarchs for the then-president, whose party was seen as a Russian ally.

legacy.tyt.com/2018/08/20/gro…

NEW: In 2016, VP Joe Biden had hope for Guatemala.

Then their president killed the UN’s anti-corruption task force. Now corruption is rampant and LGBTQ rights are under assault.

This is how The Family secretly helped make it happen.
tyt.com/stories/5ujzRO… Not too long ago, there was hope for Guatemala.

A UN task force, CICIG, was taking down corruption, including even the president.

CICIG had bipartisan support in Congress.

The Washington Office on Latin America called CICIG's results "transcendental."
wola.org/analysis/wola-…