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Jeff Fortenberry wants a lot of things.
Most of all the indicted Republican congressman probably wants to go back and shut his own stupid mouth, so that he wouldn’t have been so chatty when the FBI knocked on his door. If only he’d hung up the phone when the government’s informant called him up and told him that the real source of $30,000 of contributions collected at a 2016 fundraiser in Los Angeles was Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury. Particularly since that call was recorded, including the part where he allegedly asked to have another such event, even after being told that the money was coming from an illegal foreign donor.
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But having already talked himself into an 18 U.S.C. § 1001 false statements charge, he’d like to move the case from California, where he collected the allegedly illegal campaign contributions, to Nebraska or possibly DC, where he blabbed to prosecutors about it.
For its part, the government counters that, although Fortenberry wasn’t charged for taking the money, California is the appropriate venue because “that is where defendant directed his criminal scheme and false statements—towards CDCA investigators and the CDCA Investigation—and where the effects and harm of defendant’s obstructive conduct could be and were felt.”
As reported by the Daily Beast’s Roger Sollenberger, Fortenberry would also like to disqualify the prosecutor, AUSA Mack Jenkins because he interviewed the congressman in DC, eliciting some the alleged false statements, and is thus “an essential percipient witness in this case.”
And while he’s asking Santa for a Red Ryder BB gun, he’d like to dismiss the indictment altogether — or possibly just get those pesky recordings tossed — for lack of materiality.
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“This case is entirely about Congressman Fortenberry’s failure to accurately repeat back to the government the content of the ten-minute phone call that the government’s informant placed to him,” he whines.
And indeed the government did “set him up,” as he alleges, since they had the tape of him talking to the informant when they went and asked him about the true source of the money.
But as Sollenberger flagged, there appear to be other pending investigations. To wit, the protective order stipulated to by both parties under which Rep. Fortenberry cannot be in the room alone with the evidence, refers to “sensitive and ongoing investigations, including those related to public officials.”
Salon’s Zachary Petrizzo suggests that this might refer to California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, whom Politico confirms was another recipient of Chagoury’s circuitous largesse. It would be too ironic if Issa, whose net worth is somewhere north of $200 million, got taken down for a few thousand in illegal campaign donations — particularly in light of his own colorful legal history.
Well, you don’t ask, you don’t get, right? Good luck, fella.
US v. Fortenberry [Docket via Court Listener]
Indicted GOP Congressman Says the Feds Got Him on Tape—Twice [Daily Beast]
Elizabeth Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.