Secretive D.C. influence project appears to be running a group house for right-wing lawmakers
by Justin Elliott, Joshua Kaplan and Alex Mierjeski, Tennessee Lookout March 6, 2025
This story was originally published by ProPublica.
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For a project explicitly designed to infuence Congress, Steve Berger’s operation has left a scant paper trail. The archconservative evangelical pastor, who started a D.C. nonproft a few years ago to shape national policy, does not file lobbying reports. His group does not show up in campaign fnance records.
There is a simple way to glimpse his effort’s 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’s headquarters.
The six-bedroom, $3.7 million home is owned by a multimillion-dollar Republican donor.
Rep. Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican who is among President Donald Trump’s 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.
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’s White House, appears to have lived there until recently as well.
Berger has said his goal is to “disciple” members of Congress so what “they learn is then translated into policy.” He has claimed to have personally spurred legislation, saying a senator privately credited him with inspiring a bill.
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’t answer questions about the specific rate. He said Johnson has not spoken to the pastor about “any matter of public policy.”
Ogles is in only his third year in Congress, but he’s 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’s filed articles of impeachment against multiple judges who’ve 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 “Shook Ones, Pt. II.”)
Ogles’ short tenure is also notable for the pace of scandal that’s followed it. He has faced allegations that he infated 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 “my body of work speaks for itself.”)
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.
Perhaps no one is more responsible for Ogles’ 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’ successful 2022 run for the House.
Beaman and Berger have publicly advocated together for numerous specifc 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.)
If I was left to myself, I’d take a baseball bat and beat the hell out of every single one of them. And not feel bad about it.
– Steve Berger about LGBTQ Pride events
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 “LGBTQ+ Pride” parades and “drag queen story hour” during an interview for a podcast in 2022, according to unpublished footage obtained by ProPublica.
“If I was left to myself, I’d take a baseball bat and beat the hell out of every single one of them. And not feel bad about it,” Berger said. “I have to go, ‘You know what? That’s probably not the will of God, is it?’ And obviously it’s not.”
Beyond his ownership of the townhouse, Beaman’s role in the pastor’s infuence project is unclear. After Beaman purchased the house in 2021, a lawyer sought to change it from a single-family dwelling to a “boarding house/rooming house,” according to Washington, D.C., property records. Around that time, Berger’s nonproft group, Ambassador Services International, registered the home as its address.
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.
Beaman has said he got to know Ogles when Ogles was the Tennessee director of Americans for Prosperity, part of the Koch brothers’ 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.
Ogles’ 2022 campaign was the subject of a blistering House ethics report released this year. The nonpartisan Office of Congressional Ethics concluded that there is “substantial reason to believe” that Ogles’ campaign had accepted illegally large donations and then falsely reported that the funds had come from Ogles himself. Ogles has said he is “confdent that any reporting problem was at worst an honest mistake.” (Beaman was not named in the report and has not been accused of wrongdoing.)
The report said that Ogles refused to cooperate with the investigation. It recommended that the House Ethics Committee issue a subpoena to the congressman.
Do you have any information we should know about Steve Berger, Rep. Andy Ogles or Speaker Mike Johnson? Justin Elliott can be reached by email at justin@propublica.org and by Signal or WhatsApp at 774-826-6240. Josh Kaplan can be reached by email at joshua.kaplan@propublica.org and by Signal or WhatsApp at 734-834-9383.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Kim Jarrett | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-04 16:29:00
(The Center Square) – At least five people have died and that number is expected to increase after severe storms hit the western and middle portions of Tennessee.
“There has been a great deal of storm activity and damage,” Gov. Bill Lee said in a Friday news conference with emergency leaders. “And yet there’s more to come.”
Lee issued an emergency declaration ahead of storms that moved through the state on Thursday. A tornado was confirmed in the McNairy County town of Selmer, where at least one person died, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.
There were two deaths in Fayette County, and one each in Carroll and Obion counties, the agency said.
More storms are expected this weekend especially west of I-65, according to the National Weather Service.
“Do not be surprised by a severe storm or tornado watch soon,” the agency said Friday afternoon on social media. “We are still watching Saturday afternoon and night for peak storms and flash flooding.’
Some areas could see up to 8 inches of rain this weekend, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.
“Life safety missions are currently ongoing and is the top priority in our rescue and response operations,” agency officials said in a report. “Once life safety missions are complete and the storm system moves through the state, TEMA alongside our local and federal partners will begin damage assessments.”
Lee was on the ground with first responders touring damage Thursday and Friday.
“Middle and West Tennesseans face a long road to recovery after severe weather, and there is great hope in seeing how communities are coming together to serve their neighbors in this time of need,” Lee said said Gov. Lee. “We will continue to look for every opportunity to support local recovery efforts.”
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education demanded in a letter to state education leaders on Thursday that they certify all K-12 schools in their states are complying with an earlier Dear Colleague letter banning diversity, equity and inclusion practices if they want to keep receiving federal financial assistance.
The department’s sweeping order gives K-12 state education agencies 10 days to collect the certifications of compliance from local school governing bodies, and then sign them and return them to the federal department.
The new demand stems from a February letter threatening to rescind federal funds for schools that use DEI, or race-conscious practices, in admissions, programming, training, hiring, scholarships and other aspects of student life.
Craig Trainor, the department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said “federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right,” in a statement Thursday.
“When state education commissioners accept federal funds, they agree to abide by federal antidiscrimination requirements,” Trainor said. He added that “unfortunately, we have seen too many schools flout or outright violate these obligations, including by using (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another based on identity characteristics in clear violation of Title VI.”
He did not cite examples in the statement.
Trainor said the department “is taking an important step toward ensuring that states understand — and comply with — their existing obligations under civil rights laws and Students v. Harvard.”
In the February letter, Trainor offered a wide-ranging interpretation of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2023 involving Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. The nation’s highest court struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions.
Trainor wrote that though the ruling “addressed admissions decisions, the Supreme Court’s holding applies more broadly.”
The four-page letter raised a slew of questions for schools — from pre-K through college — over what exactly falls within the requirements.
The department later released a Frequently Asked Questions document on the letter in an attempt to provide more guidance.
In the document, the department noted that it’s prohibited from “exercising control over the content of school curricula” and “nothing in Title VI, its implementing regulations, or the Dear Colleague Letter requires or authorizes a school to restrict any rights otherwise protected by the First Amendment.”
The agency also clarified that “programs focused on interests in particular cultures, heritages, and areas of the world” are allowed as long as “they are open to all students regardless of race.”
“In the middle of a school year, the president is trying to bully the very same school districts that he insisted, just a few weeks ago, should be in charge of education,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a Thursday statement.
Weingarten added that “this is a power grab and a money grab — and it’s also blatantly unlawful.”
“We know the administration wants to divert federal education funds into block grants, vouchers or tax cuts, but it’s simply not legal; only Congress can do that. Further, federal statute explicitly prohibits any president from telling schools and colleges what to teach, and funds cannot be withheld on the basis of Title VI Civil Rights Act claims without due process,” she said.
In a Thursday statement, Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, said “educators and parents know that teaching should be guided by what is best for students, not by threat of illegal restrictions and punishment.”
“That is why we sued the Trump administration — and we stand by our lawsuit,” she said.
“This latest action by the Trump administration to shut down free speech and coerce educators to abandon inclusive practices at school remains illegal and unconstitutional as we pointed out in our legal filing,” she added.
Last updated 5:44 p.m., Apr. 3, 2025
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Kim Jarrett | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-03 14:12:00
(The Center Square) – The Tennessee Senate passed a bill that would limit the legal liability of pesticide makers as long as the labels meet federal standards.
Democrats said they were concerned that Senate Bill 527 would prevent consumers from suing chemical companies.
“It’s just amazing to me that we are taking away the rights of Tennesseans to defend themselves against harmful chemicals,” said Sen. Heidi Campbell, R-Nashville.
“The bill does not prevent anyone from suing,” said Sen. John Stevens, R-Huntingdon. “It does limit the liability in the event that there is a claim related to the label.”
Farmers call the products “crop protection.” Smith County farmer George McDonald told the Tennessee Senate Judiciary Committee in March that farmers are trained to use the products.
“If we keep chipping away at these tools that we have in our toolbox, we will not be able to use those tools and if we do not have these pesticides, taking them away from farmers will be like taking away tractors from farmers,” McDonald told the committee.
Passage was 21-7. The House version of the bill is on the calendar for next week’s meeting of the House Judiciary Committee.
A similar bill passed both chambers in Georgia and is now on Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk.
“Since litigation against glyphosate began, Bayer has paid out roughly $10 billion from an expensed & provisioned total of $16 billion to address these cases – funds that could be invested in R&D and used toward creating new technology for farmers, consumers and patients,” the company told the newspaper.
A Georgia jury awarded a man $2.1 billion in a lawsuit against Bayer. The man said the product caused his cancer.
