Texas Republican Representative Louie Gohmert claimed documents showing a $5,500 donation to anti-gay and Holocaust denying pastor Steve Anderson from his campaign were in error. The GOP legislator said he actually donated the money to a musician with a similar name.
According to a filing with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Louie Gohmert for Congress Committee made a donation in the amount of $5,500 to an entity called "Anderson Ministries" in 2019.
Shortly after the Pulse Nightclub shooting, Pastor Steve Anderson praised the shooter for killing 49 people at the nightclub.
Anderson is also known for a 2014 video in which he asserted killing gay people was the way to end the AIDS epidemic. There have been multiple other times Anderson has called for the killing of or discrimination against LGBTQ+ people.
In addition to his homophobia, Anderson is antisemitic. The Evangelical Christian pastor has multiple published sermons in which he blames Jewish people for many of the world's ills, as well as denying the holocaust occurred.
While Anderson Ministries is not the official name of Steve Anderson's church, the address listed is the address for his church in Tempe, Arizona. The payment was listed as a "donation."
The donation was discovered by The Daily Beast, who confronted the Representative about supporting a proponent of hate crime.
Team Gohmert claims it hired a Christian singer named Steve Amerson from Granada HIlls, California, but accidentally reported to the FEC that the cash went to the Faithful Word Baptist Church, led by the infamous pastorhttps://www.thedailybeast.com/louie-gohmert-swears-dollar5500-donation-to-holocaust-denier-was-a-mistake\u00a0\u2026— The Daily Beast (@The Daily Beast) 1623715442
Gohmert's staffers insisted there was an error in the filing. They claim the payment was actually to Christian singer Steve Amerson, who happens to live in Granada Hills, California, not Tempe.
They further claim whomever made the filing got the "name, purpose, and address" all wrong when filling out the official government paperwork.
"If he knew what Anderson was about, then it is shocking and highly disturbing that he would give money to a known anti-Semite, Holocaust denier, and homophobe," said Aryeh Tuchman, associate director at the ADL\u2019s Center on Extremismhttps://www.thedailybeast.com/louie-gohmert-swears-dollar5500-donation-to-holocaust-denier-was-a-mistake\u00a0\u2026— The Daily Beast (@The Daily Beast) 1623715483
It must be a major coincidence all three errors pointed directly to a church which has been declared a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
Twitter users weren't buying it, either.
One day my 8 yo son on told me his buddy was searching for boots, but "accidentally" spelled boobs. That's what this sounds like.— * (@*) 1623770741
It was an \u201cACCIDENT\u201d bc he was caught..right Louie? #GQPTraitorsToDemocracy— Danielle \u270c\ud83c\udffc\ud83d\udc99 (@Danielle \u270c\ud83c\udffc\ud83d\udc99) 1623720085
pic.twitter.com/ohqtyhSi3v— \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf7Julian Herot\ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf7 (@\ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf7Julian Herot\ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf7) 1623794566
pic.twitter.com/YbPwsgNTRX— Sassy T (@Sassy T) 1623755679
If Republican Gohmert's name sounds familiar, it could be because he was widely mocked online for proposing the National Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management should somehow change the orbit of the moon to fight climate change during a congressional Natural Resources subcommittee hearing earlier this week.
"We know there's been significant solar flare activity. And so, is there anything that the National Forest Service or BLM (Bureau of Land Management) can do to change the course of the moon's orbit or the Earth's orbit around the sun? Obviously, that would have profound effects on our climate. "
Twitter completely roasted Gohmert for the comment.
Let\u2019s not change the orbit of anything. Just like we aren\u2019t going to nuke hurricanes— Qondi: A Jon Ossoff Stan Account\ud83d\udc9b \ud83d\udc1d \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddff\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddff\ud83c\uddfc (@Qondi: A Jon Ossoff Stan Account\ud83d\udc9b \ud83d\udc1d \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddff\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddff\ud83c\uddfc) 1623277135
Louie was a judge.\nHe judged people in a court of law.\nAnd passed sentence.\nIn a courtroom.\nIn the USA.— Ronald L. Willson (@Ronald L. Willson) 1623246790
pic.twitter.com/kE9xeinYxZ— Walter Shaub (@Walter Shaub) 1623247336
BREAKING: Louie Gohmert says move the sun away from Texas until ERCOT fixes the grid— Exploding Space Pillow Singh, MD \ud83c\udf0a (@Exploding Space Pillow Singh, MD \ud83c\udf0a) 1623727686
Gohmert also recently claimed Capitol police were briefed Trump "haters" would storm the Capitol on the January 6 to make the outgoing President look bad. The Texas Republican offered no proof for his claim.
He was also one of 12 GOP Representatives that voted against congressional medals for Capitol police who served with distinction during the violent MAGA riot.
Gohmert was an integral part of Trump's "Big Lie" about his overwhelming popular vote loss in the 2020 election. The Republican even filed a lawsuit against former Vice President Mike Pence to try to block the certification of President Joe Biden's electoral college win.
Gohmert is up for reelection in 2022.