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.
SUMMARY: Desmond Mills Jr., a former Memphis officer who pleaded guilty, testified during the trial of Tadarrius Bean and others charged in Tyre Nichols’ 2023 death. Nichols was beaten after fleeing a traffic stop; footage showed officers laughing while Nichols struggled. Mills admitted hitting Nichols out of anger after accidentally pepper-spraying himself and regretted failing to stop the beating. Nichols died three days later from blunt force trauma. Defense argued Nichols resisted arrest, while prosecutors said officers were “overcome by the moment” and failed to intervene. The trial, moved from Memphis due to publicity, addresses charges including second-degree murder amid scrutiny of MPD’s conduct.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Kim Jarrett | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-30 12:15:00
(The Center Square) – Democrats and Republicans from three states are supporting a 287-mile trail that would include Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina.
The lawmakers are asking for a feasibility study on the Benton MacKaye National Scenic Trail. U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., said Wednesday the trail deserves a national scenic designation.
“The Benton MacKaye Trail is an invaluable part of my district in East Tennessee that thousands of Tennesseans and Americans hike each year, and the trail connects some of the most beautiful and pristine parts of Tennessee with Georgia and North Carolina,” Fleischmann said.
The trail that winds through the Southern Appalachian Mountains was completed in 2005, according to Bob Cowdrick, president of the Benton MacKaye Trail Association, which has supported its development since 1980, according to the bill.
“This study would help protect our storied outdoor heritage for future generations, support local economies, and provide a wide array of recreation opportunities for everyone from day hikers to thru-hikers and solo trekkers to families,” Cowdrick said.
The trail’s path is made up of 95% of federal land. It passes through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Chattahoochee-Oconee, Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests. It begins at North Georgia’s Springer Mountain and ends at North Carolina’s Mount Sterling, according to the Benton MacKaye Trail Association.
The bill is cosponsored in the House by Democrats Steve Cohen of Tennessee and Lucy McBath of Georgia. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., is also a cosponsor. Republican North Carolina Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd are cosponsoring it in the Senate with Rep. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga. The bill is currently in the House Natural Resources Committee.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article reports on bipartisan support for a feasibility study on the Benton MacKaye National Scenic Trail, without advocating for a particular ideological stance. The language used is factual and neutral, primarily focusing on the collaboration between Democrats and Republicans from three states. The article does not show a clear bias in favor of one political party or the other. It simply highlights the specifics of the bill, its sponsors, and the potential benefits of the trail, such as supporting local economies and outdoor recreation. Therefore, it adheres to neutral, factual reporting without promoting a specific viewpoint.
The trio charged in a Tennessee political corruption case shared text messages in early 2020 complaining about the state’s failure to pay a mysterious vendor for work on lawmakers’ constituent mailers, at one point cursing the administrator in charge of handling invoices.
One text message from former Rep. Robin Smith of Hixson to ex-Speaker of the House Glen Casada said, “Connie’s a bi—.” Casada responded, “Agreed!”
Smith, who pleaded guilty in the fraud and kickback case and is cooperating with federal prosecutors, was referring to now-retired Legislative Administration Director Connie Ridley, who handled payments for the state’s postage and printing program for lawmakers. Ridley held up payments because of problems with W-9 tax forms by the vendor, Phoenix Solutions, which was run by former legislative aide Cade Cothren, and Casada, testimony showed.
Smith testified she was “highly frustrated” because Ridley approved work without having the federal tax documents on hand. Eventually, Cothren sent the state a W-9 signed as “Matthew Phoenix,” one of the key documents prosecutors are using in the case to show deception by Smith, Casada and Cothren to direct business to Phoenix Solutions without state officials or lawmakers knowing who was behind the company.
Casada and Cothren had stepped down from their posts at different points in 2019 because of a racist and sexist texting scandal. Casada remained in the General Assembly but not as House speaker.
Connie Ridley, former director of legislative administration, shown leaving Nashville’s federal courthouse on April 25, 2025. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
Another text displayed for the jury Tuesday showed the state had paid for work on a lawmaker’s constituent mailer but didn’t include taxes.
Smith and Cothren sent each other “incredulous” text messages and Smith added another one saying, “Quite the bullsh–.”
Smith, former chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, met with Ridley to speed up payments in February 2020 when the state owed Phoenix Solutions $34,000 for work on several Republican lawmakers’ constituent mailers, including now-former Rep. Patsy Hazlewood of Signal Mountain, Rep. Dan Howell of Cleveland, Rep. Esther Helton-Haynes of East Ridge, Rep. Dennis Powers of Jacksboro, Rep. Susan Lynn of Mt. Juliet, Rep. Bud Hulsey of Bristol, Rep. Chris Hurt of Halls, Rep. Andrew Farmer of Sevierville and Smith and Casada.
Ridley testified earlier this week she didn’t find out Phoenix Solutions was run by Cothren until May 2020 when federal authorities told her to continue processing the New Mexico-based company’s invoices.
Earlier Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Eli Richardson ruled that prosecutors can present evidence showing the trio wanted to expand from constituent mailers, which are paid for with tax money, to House Republican Caucus work. Defense attorneys argued that the prosecutors should be limited to evidence about the postage and printing program because it is outlined in the indictment, not an effort to tap into caucus funds.
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.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Right
The content highlights a political corruption case involving Republican lawmakers in Tennessee, presenting factual details about legal proceedings, text communications, and testimonies. While it exposes misconduct within a specific party, the reporting style remains largely neutral and focused on the facts without overt editorializing or broad partisan critique. This aligns with a center-right bias, as it scrutinizes members of a right-leaning party but in a relatively balanced and fact-based manner typical of moderate conservative or center-right news coverage.
