{"id":85,"date":"2026-05-22T08:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T08:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingservicesamerica.com\/?p=85"},"modified":"2026-05-22T08:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T08:37:09","slug":"secretive-d-c-influence-project-appears-to-be-running-a-group-house-for-right-wing-lawmakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingservicesamerica.com\/?p=85","title":{"rendered":"Secretive D.C. Influence Project Appears to Be Running a Group House for Right-Wing Lawmakers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

For a project explicitly designed to influence Congress, Steve Berger\u2019s operation has left a scant paper trail. The archconservative evangelical pastor, who started a D.C. nonprofit a few years ago to shape national policy, does not file lobbying reports. His group does not show up in campaign finance records.<\/p>\n

Read more How a Push to Amend the Constitution Could Help Trump Expand Presidential Power<\/a><\/p>\n

There is a simple way to glimpse his effort\u2019s expanding reach in Washington, however: Pay attention to who is walking out the front door of his Capitol Hill townhouse. New evidence suggests Berger may be running what amounts to a group house for conservative lawmakers, with multiple members of Congress living with him at his organization\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\n

The six-bedroom, $3.7 million home is owned by a multimillion-dollar Republican donor.<\/p>\n

Rep. Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican who is among President Donald Trump\u2019s most aggressive allies in Congress, has been at the house on multiple days over the past two weeks, according to people who live in the area. Video reviewed by ProPublica showed Ogles leaving the townhouse with bags on Feb. 27. As he left, he locked up the front door and pocketed the keys to the house.<\/p>\n

As ProPublica reported last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson is living in the townhouse. And Dan Bishop, a former congressman from North Carolina now nominated for a powerful post in Trump\u2019s White House, appears to have lived there until recently as well.<\/p>\n

Berger has said his goal is to \u201cdisciple\u201d members of Congress so what \u201cthey learn is then translated into policy.\u201d He has claimed to have personally spurred legislation, saying a senator privately credited him with inspiring a bill.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Berger, Bishop and Ogles did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Johnson previously said the speaker pays fair-market rent for the part of the townhouse he occupies but didn\u2019t answer questions about the specific rate. He said Johnson has not spoken to the pastor about \u201cany matter of public policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ogles is in only his third year in Congress, but he\u2019s drawn attention for his bombastic displays of fealty to Trump. He recently introduced a resolution to amend the Constitution so that Trump could serve a third term as president. He\u2019s filed articles of impeachment against multiple judges who\u2019ve ruled against the new administration. (Last week, Elon Musk posted a video of Ogles touting his impeachment efforts, set to the beat from the rap song \u201cShook Ones, Pt. II.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Ogles\u2019 short tenure is also notable for the pace of scandal that\u2019s followed it. He has faced allegations that he inflated his resume, claiming alternatively to have been an economist, a member of law enforcement and an expert on international sex trafficking, NewsChannel 5 in Nashville reported. (Ogles has acknowledged at least one mistake on his resume but said that \u201cmy body of work speaks for itself.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Last year, the FBI seized his phone during an investigation and obtained a search warrant to review records associated with his personal email address. Federal investigators were seeking evidence related to potential campaign finance violations, according to a court filing. The scope of the FBI investigation remains unclear.<\/p>\n

Read more How Texas Conservatives Use At-Large School Board Elections to Influence What Students Learn<\/a><\/p>\n

Perhaps no one is more responsible for Ogles\u2019 rise in politics than Lee Beaman, the Tennessee businessman who owns the Capitol Hill townhouse. When Ogles announced a short-lived Senate bid in 2017, Beaman said he planned to raise $4 million to support the run. Beaman, whose wealth derives from a large car dealership chain, then served as campaign treasurer in Ogles\u2019 successful 2022 run for the House.<\/p>\n

Beaman and Berger have publicly advocated together for numerous specific policy changes, in areas including foreign affairs, fuel efficiency standards and removing barriers to firing federal employees. After the 2020 election, they both signed a letter declaring that Trump was the rightful winner and calling for Congress to overturn the results. (Beaman did not respond to requests for comment. ProPublica could not determine whether he and the pastor have discussed policy issues with Ogles during his time in Congress.)<\/p>\n

In sermons, Berger has devoted long stretches to attacking the separation of church and state, as well as COVID-19 vaccines. The pastor used violent language to describe his disdain for \u201cLGBTQ+ Pride\u201d parades and \u201cdrag queen story hour\u201d during an interview for a podcast in 2022, according to unpublished footage obtained by ProPublica.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was left to myself, I\u2019d take a baseball bat and beat the hell out of every single one of them. And not feel bad about it,\u201d Berger said. \u201cI have to go, \u2018You know what? That\u2019s probably not the will of God, is it?\u2019 And obviously it\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond his ownership of the townhouse, Beaman\u2019s role in the pastor\u2019s influence project is unclear. After Beaman purchased the house in 2021, a lawyer sought to change it from a single-family dwelling to a \u201cboarding house\/rooming house,\u201d according to Washington, D.C., property records. Around that time, Berger\u2019s nonprofit group, Ambassador Services International, registered the home as its address.<\/p>\n

Members of Congress are allowed to live anywhere, as long as they pay fair-market rent, experts said. Discounts on rent are generally seen as improper gifts and prohibited by House ethics rules.<\/p>\n

Beaman has said he got to know Ogles when Ogles was the Tennessee director of Americans for Prosperity, part of the Koch brothers\u2019 political network. Beaman and Ogles joined forces to fight a mass transit project in Nashville and reportedly worked together on a successful effort to repeal the estate tax in their home state. After leaving the Koch network, Ogles served four years as the mayor of a Middle Tennessee county with a population of roughly 100,000. He held that role until 2022, when he was elected to Congress.<\/p>\n

Ogles\u2019 2022 campaign was the subject of a blistering House ethics report released this year. The nonpartisan Office of Congressional Ethics concluded that there is \u201csubstantial reason to believe\u201d that Ogles\u2019 campaign had accepted illegally large donations and then falsely reported that the funds had come from Ogles himself. Ogles has said he is \u201cconfident that any reporting problem was at worst an honest mistake.\u201d (Beaman was not named in the report and has not been accused of wrongdoing.)<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

The report said that Ogles refused to cooperate with the investigation. It recommended that the House Ethics Committee issue a subpoena to the congressman.<\/p>\n

Read more A Political Power Grab Redirected Funds for North Carolina\u2019s Sexual Abuse Survivors. Women in Crisis Paid the Price.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Evangelical pastor Steve Berger\u2019s political influence campaign operates out of his D.C. townhouse. In addition to House Speaker Mike Johnson living there, a prominent Trump ally, Rep. Andy Ogles, has the keys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nSecretive D.C. 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