Mike Johnson is Living With an Evangelical Influence Seeker — ProPublica

In 2021, Steve Berger, the Gospel pastor, who attacked the division of the church and the state as a “false lie” and called the multinational institutes “demonic”, went to the ambitious project. Its stated target: Minister Congress to what “they find out translate into politics.” Its operations base would be six -room, $ 3.7 million from the US Capitol.

The pastor has recently gained an excellent coup for a political influence project, which has yet been able to avoid the public control. He got a new roommate.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson has remained home since the beginning of this year, according to the interview and video received by Propublica.

The house is owned by a large republican donor and tycoon of Tennessee, who joined Berger, protruding for and against several bills before Congress.

Over the past four years Berger and his wife Sarah Berger devoted themselves to what they call their center of the Ministry of DC. ” Congressmen, three people reported.

Johnson’s press -secretary said the speaker “pays a fair market price for a monthly rent for a part of Washington, the Colombian district that he occupies.” He did not answer the question of how much Johnson pays. Home ethics rules allow Congress members to live anywhere while they pay a fair market.

The press -secretary added that Johnson “never talked to Mr. Berger about any legislative act or any issue of state policy.” Berger and the bishop did not respond to the requests for comment.

Bergers called his mission as galvanizing political allies to take action. “It’s just an iron that sharpens iron,” Sarah Berger said last summer, explaining the couple’s approach to political influence. “Like,” Oh yes, that’s why I stand hard in this policy. “

Steve Berger claims that he personally pushed the legislation. “This is a modest thing,” he said in the sermon at the end of 2022. – You will receive a textual message from the senator, which states: “Thank you for the inspiration. Because it has made me create a bill that is going on in this country.”

Berger’s interests go beyond his unwavering social conservatism. He and the Donor owned by the House, Lee Bean, have publicly advocated many specific changes in politics, including a bill that will facilitate federal workers’ dismissal and regulation that would reduce fuel efficiency for the automotive industry. After the 2020 elections they are both signed a letter stating that President Donald Trump became a legal winner and urged Congress to abolish the results.

Johnson, Republican Louisiana, did not answer questions about how he remained at home. Beman did not respond to comment requests.

The earliest Propublica date was able to confirm that Johnson was in Berger’s house in mid -December. The video conducted by Prapublica shows that Johnson visits the house on December 15 with two women who seem to be his wife and daughter. They were lingering on the street before entering, while Johnson pointed around the building and down to the entrance to the basement, as if he had a tour. Two days later, Berger sent a note to his fans on social media: “I so want me to tell you all the massive doors that dispersed this week.”

Since the beginning of the year, videos and interviews show Johnson regularly leaving the house in the morning and returned in the evening. One day, when Johnson was there recently, Berger was also at home, opening a barefoot from the front door in the pajamas. (It seems Johnson can first stay in a two -bedroom basement.)

Washington Pads-a-Terre can be a significant expense for Congress members as they divided the time between the capital and their home areas. Johnson is less rich than many other legislators. Before he enrolled in the public service, he worked in conservative non -profit organizations, and in his most recent form of financial disclosure, he did not declare any asset. If Johnson was erected before the performance in 2023, The specified news This is instead of renting an apartment, he can sleep in his office. (Legislators must report debt, income and numerous financial possessions in the forms of disclosure, but do not need to list life costs such as rent.)

The Berger’s house is in the upscale DC neighborhood, full of lobbyists and corporate lawyers. Although it is unclear that the foundation of the house will receive in the open market, it is not unusual for the two -bedroom in the area to rent $ 7,000 a month. Experts point out that rental discounts are usually prohibited by home ethics as incorrect gifts.

In the sermons and social media, Berger mentioned some topics he discussed with Johnson and other Congress members. Last year, Berger, a hot supporter of the right Israeli right, said he had a “excellent conversation” with a speaker about Israel.

Johnson recently described his conversations with Trump to pastor, according to Berger. After Russia invaded Ukraine, Berger said in the sermon that he advised “some congressmen” to see the conflict through the Ezekiel lens 38 and 39, parts of the Bible, which some see how to prophesy a great war before the second arrival. He did not specify what it means in terms of politics.

A vigorous 60-year-old guy with a white goat and a tendency to preach in sneakers and jeans, Berger has strong views on a wide range of issues, including economic policy and public health. He severely oppies the World Health Organization that Trump has moved to abandon the US from last month, and recently predicted that COVID-19 vaccines will lead to “youth to fall around”. He has long attacked the World Economic Forum in a recent sermon, accusing him of “preferences” Covid-19 to implement his Satanic plot. “

Berger is also against same-sex marriage, saying that “it opens the door to all sexual debauchery and wickedness,” although he said he had “friends who practice homosexuals, the people I care.” He said he opposes homosexuality and “heterosexual sin” in equal measures, citing actions such as viewing pornography and sex between unmarried adults.

Berger Operation is organized as a non -profit organization called Ambassador Services InternationalWorking on a budget of about $ 1 million a year, according to data tax filing. The house where it was registered in Washington and where Johnson was purchased was purchased in early 2021. After the House of Canceled Frederico Douglas, which placed the Smithson Museum of African Art, it was advertised while “a four-rally tauna-style of the Townsky ​​House with impassable elegance and exceptional scale” offering a “proposal offering” offering.

The buyers were Croockett Ventures LLC. Corporate submission shows that its only owner is Bean, a donor and businessman who built happiness in a chain of car dealers created by his father. He gave millions of republican political groups, including the great donations of Trump’s company and the political committees of the Heritage and Caucasian Foundation at home. He also served as a company treasurer in Congress.

Once upon a time he was so bored profile in the architectural book. In recent years, he has become a Nashville Media adaptation of the fierce charges made by his fourth wife during the divorce, including that he made her watch what he called “training films” that had sex with a prostitute. Biman’s lawyers wrote at the time The fact that his wife’s submission contained “a constant and scandalous affair intended only for the persecution of Mr. Biman.”

Berger founded Berger, but it is unclear what role he plays in the Pastor’s project in Washington. It is also unclear whether the pastor’s non -profit organization for the use of the Towunhaus Capitol hill.

Berger became known in his native state, as the long -standing pastor of the chapel Grace, the Great Church outside Nashville, whose members included the current governor of the state. In 2021, Berger left the church and he and his wife launched his project in Washington.

He soon began to engage in biblical classes with senators, representatives and assistants in Congress, Bergers reports. Meanwhile, Sarah Berger spent her time “in a relationship and poured into the lives of wives in Congress,” the tax filing said.

Steve Berger quickly connected at the highest level of the Republican Party.

“Listen, I admitted Steve things that I did not confess to anyone,” said Mark Miduz, Chief of Staff of the White House in the first Trump administration, which remains an important ally of the president, said Berger at the event in 2023. “We prayed together, studying the Bible every week. Not only me, but also several Congress members.”

A group of congressmen gathered on stage In October, the pastor, including Bishop, Barry Moore representative, Andy OGL, and Warren Davidson, will perform at the 60th Pastoral Party. All four are current or former members of the fierce conservative Freedom House. (None of the four answers to comment requests.)

These data suggest that the bishop also recently lived in the Town’s Town Hill. Three neighbors said Propublica that the FBI had visited them this month, asking the bishop, seemingly as part of the White House work. “They said this address,” said one neighbor, adding that the agent showed a photo of the bishop. “They said, ‘He lived there until a few months ago. Do you know it? “

Trump has nominated the bishop to become the Deputy Director of the Management and Budget Office, a powerful White House office, which recently switched to freezing financing throughout the federal government. Berger celebrated the nomination on Instagram: “I want to congratulate my dear friend and brother, Congressman Dan Bishop, for accepting this incredible opportunity.”