His writings "periodically lifted text from a variety of sources" — including Yahoo Answers, Wikipedia, U.S. News & World Report — "all without credit.".

[7] In March 2017, IJR staffers accused Johnson of plagiarizing an article about then-House Republican Conference chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

[21] Later in the same month Johnson was suspended by the IJR after his involvement in an article which asserted that judge Derrick Watson's partial blocking of Executive Order 13780 was connected to former president Barack Obama's visit to Hawaii.

[21][22] Again in March 2017, Johnson was reported to have been verbally abusive and driven numerous staffers away from the IJR due to his management style;[22] he was subsequently demoted.

Former employees and contractors described dubious corporate practices: payments delayed for months, contracts with political campaigns rife with self-dealing, overworked and underpaid jobs.

[30] In February 2025, Johnson reacted to the Super Bowl LIX halftime show, calling Kendrick Lamar a "talentless mumbling pagan satanic cultist".