Prosecutors turn up the heat on Fortenberry

Accused of lying to the FBI during an investigation into illegal campaign contributions, accusations denied by indicted Nebraska Congressman Jeff Fortenberry, the government now says it has three recorded conversations with Fortenberry, along with a mountain of other evidence.

The three recordings are noted in the government’s Tuesday response to Fortenberry’s claim that the lead prosecutor, Assistant US Attorney Mack Jenkins—whose legal eagle resume was closely examined by News Channel Nebraska—should be pulled from the case.

Because Jenkins was on hand during some of the FBI’s questioning of Fortenberry, the GOP Congressman argues Jenkins knows key elements of the case no one else does, would likely be called as a witness by Fortenberry and therefore can’t prosecute at the same time.

According to the government, Fortenberry has not shown a “compelling need” for Jenkins to testify, in part because there are other plenty of other federal investigators involved in the case that can be called to the witness stand.

In a second Tuesday filing, prosecutors also take Fortenberry to task for complaining that he was “setup,” that the case against him is based on a 10-minute phone call made to Fortenberry by a government informant, who told him about the illegal contributions.

Prosecutors argue, “The only person who ‘set up’ defendant…was defendant himself when he…intentionally, repeatedly and proactively” obstructed the government’s investigation.”

A likely key to proving that obstruction are those three recordings.

According to the government:

• One is a phone call that finds Fortenberry “discussing the fact that his campaign had received the illegal funds.’
• The second finds Fortenberry denying to two federal agents (in the presence of local police) that he knew about the illegal contributions.
• The third recording finds Fortenberry “doubling down on his lies” in an interview with two FBI agents, an Assistant US Attorney no longer assigned to the case and Mack Jenkins.

The judge has yet to rule on all this.

Fortenberry is scheduled to stand trial February 15 in an investigation that dates back to 2016 and involves contributions from Gilbert Chagoury, a foreign national prohibited by federal law from contributing to federal elections, and a Chagoury associate Toufic Joseph Baaklini.

The prosecution has announced that Chagoury and Baaklini are two of the key witnesses against Fortenberry. Five other witnesses are said to be individuals who currently or previously worked for the Congressman.

The indictment alleges that, “Fortenberry falsely told investigators that he was not aware of Baaklini ever being involved in illegal campaign contributions, that the individuals who made contributions at the 2016 fundraiser were all publicly disclosed, and that he was not aware of any contributions to his campaign from a foreign national.”

The New York Times reports that Chagoury is a Lebanese Nigerian billionaire who was accused of making illegal campaign contributions “to American politicians in exchange for access to them.”

In a video released just hours before the indictment was made public, Fortenberry said he was “shocked” and “stunned” adding, “About five-and-a-half years ago, a person from overseas illegally moved money to my campaign—I didn’t know anything about this—and used some other Americans to do so. They were all caught and punished, thankfully.”

If convicted on all counts Fortenberry is facing a maximum 15 years in federal prison.