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For projects explicitly designed to affect Congress, Steve Burger’s tactics have left most of the paper marks behind. The Archbishop Evangelical pastor, who started a DC nonprofit to shape national policy several years ago, has not submitted a report on lobbying. His group will not appear on Campaign Finance Records.
However, there is an easy way to get a glimpse into the reach of his expansion in Washington. Pay attention to who is walking down the main entrance to his Capitol Hill Townhouse. New evidence suggests that Berger may be running the equivalent of a group house for conservative lawmakers, with multiple members of the parliament living at the headquarters of his organization.
The six-bedroom, $3.7 million home is owned by a multi-million-dollar Republican donor.
Tennessee Republican Andy Ogres, one of President Donald Trump’s most aggressive allies in Congress, has been at home for multiple days over the past two weeks, according to people living in the area. A video reviewed by Propublica showed Ogles leaving their townhouses in the bag on February 27th.
As Propublica reported last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson lives in a townhouse. And Dan Bishop, a former North Carolina lawmaker, is currently nominated for a powerful post in Trump’s White House, but appears to have lived there until recently.
Berger said his goal is to be a “pupil” member of Congress “what they learn will be translated into policy.” He claims he personally urged the law, saying that the senators personally praised the bill for inspiring it.
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Burger, Bishop and Ogles did not respond to requests for comment. A Johnson spokesman previously said that the speaker would pay fair market rent to some of the townhouses he occupied, but did not answer questions about the specific rate. He said Johnson had not spoken to the pastor about “public policy issues.”
Ogles is only in his third year in Congress, but he has been attracting attention for his bold display of loyalty to Trump. He recently introduced a resolution amending the constitution so that Trump can serve his third term as president. He submitted a perpetual article to several judges who opposed the new administration. (Last week, Elon Musk posted a video showing Ogles promoting his blast each effort.
Ogles’ short tenure is also noteworthy at the pace of scandals that followed. He is facing allegations that he inflated his resume and claims he was instead an economist, law enforcement member and an international sex trafficking expert, Nashville’s Newschannel 5 reported. (Ogles admits at least one mistake on his resume, but said, “My job speaks for itself.”)
Last year, the FBI seized the phone during an investigation and obtained a search warrant to check records related to a personal email address. Federal agents were seeking evidence related to a potential campaign finance violation, according to court filings. The scope of the FBI investigation remains unknown.
Perhaps no one is more responsible for political ups than Leviman, a Tennessee businessman who owns Capitol Hill Townhouse. When Ogles announced his short-lived Senate bid in 2017, Beaman said he plans to raise $4 million to support his execution. Beeman, who comes from a large car dealership chain, later served as the treasurer of the campaign for Ogles’ successful home in 2022.
Rep. Andy Ogles appeared on stage at Steve Berger’s 60-night party last year. Credit: via Facebook
Beaman and Berger generally advocate for a number of specific policy changes in areas such as diplomacy, fuel efficiency standards, and removal of barriers to federal employee termination. After the 2020 election, they signed a letter declaring Trump as a legitimate winner, asking Congress to overturn the outcome. (Beaman did not respond to requests for comment. Propublica could not determine whether he and the pastor discussed policy issues with Ogles between him and the pastor in Congress.)
In his sermon, Berger has dedicated a long stretch to attacking the separation of church and state, as well as the separation of Covid-19 vaccines. According to unpublished footage obtained by Propublica, the pastor used violent language to describe the “LGBTQ+ PRIDE” parade and “Drug Queen Story Hour” in a 2022 podcast interview.
“If I had been left to myself, I’d taken the baseball bat and beat hell out of each of them, and I didn’t feel bad about it,” Burger said. “I have to go,” what do you know? Isn’t that probably God’s will? “And clearly not. ”
Beaman’s role in the Pastor’s Impact Project, beyond townhouse ownership, is unknown. According to Washington, DC, after Beaman bought the house in 2021, lawyers tried to change it from a single-family home to a “boarding room.” Around that time, Burger’s nonprofit Ambassador Services International registered the home as an address.
Members of the council are permitted to live anywhere as long as they pay fair market rent, experts said. Rent discounts are generally considered an inappropriate gift and are prohibited by the home ethics regulations.
Internal note: senior USAID leaders warned Trump appointees of hundreds of thousands of deaths from the closure agency
Beaman said he came to know Ogles when he was the Tennessee director of Americans for Americans, part of the Koch Brothers political network. Beaman and Ogles reportedly joined forces to combat the mass transport project in Nashville and reportedly cooperated in successful efforts to eliminate the homeland tax. After leaving the Koch network, Ogles served for four years as mayor of Central County Tennessee, with a population of approximately 100,000. He held that role until 2022 when he was elected to Congress.
Ogles’ 2022 campaign was the subject of a fierce family ethics report released this year. The nonpartisan office of Congressional Ethics concluded that the Ogles campaign illegally accepted large donations and then misrepresented the funds that came from Ogles himself. Ogles said, “I am sure the reporting issues were honest mistakes in the worst case scenario.” (Beaman has not been named in the report and has not been accused of fraud.)
The report said Ogles refused to cooperate with the investigation. The House Ethics Committee recommended that subpoena be issued to lawmakers.
Is there anything you need to know about Rep. Steve Berger, Andy Ogles, or Mike Johnson? Justin Elliott can be contacted by email [email protected] By Signal or WhatsApp on 774-826-6240. Josh Kaplan can be contacted by email [email protected] By Signal or WhatsApp on 734-834-9383.
