LINCOLN, Neb. (Nebraska Examiner) — Until last fall, U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry was expected to easily breeze to re-election in 2022 in his Republican-dominated district spanning eastern Nebraska.
Instead, he’ll be fighting for his political life this week in a federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.
Fortenberry, who has represented the 1st Congressional District since 2005, is charged with lying about, and then trying to conceal, his knowledge of $30,200 in illegal, “conduit” political campaign contributions.
‘Conduit’ contributions illegal
The gifts in 2016 originated from the pocketbook of a Nigerian-Lebanese billionaire living in Paris, Gilbert Chagoury. Foreigners are barred from donating to U.S. political campaigns, either directly or through “conduits” — in Fortenberry’s case, through a group of Lebanese-Americans living in the Los Angeles area.
Fortenberry’s trial begins Wednesday and is expected to continue through March 22. A campaign spokesman said it’s not certain that the 61-year-old congressman will testify in his own defense.
The outcome could be a decisive factor in whether the congressman is re-elected. He faces a formidable challenge in the May primary from State Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk, who has picked up endorsements from Gov. Pete Ricketts and former Gov. Dave Heineman, who said they fear losing the safe GOP seat to a Democrat because of Fortenberry’s legal issues.
Prosecutors in California, where the investigation into illegal campaign donations from Chagoury began in 2015, allege that Fortenberry lied repeatedly to them during interviews in 2019 when asked if the money originated from Chagoury.
Federal prosecutors maintain that Fortenberry then failed to immediately “disgorge” the Chagoury funds — something his then-fellow U.S. Rep. Lee Terry did — and correct his federal campaign spending report. Instead, federal authorities say, Fortenberry asked for another fundraiser in 2018.
‘Specific legislative actions’
Prosecutors also allege that Fortenberry took “specific legislative actions” after getting the 2016 donations.
Fortenberry supporters reject the claims. They maintain that the congressman was the victim of a political “setup” by federal agents, who used an informant to tell him the donations “probably” originated from Chagoury and then “misled” into talking to agents.
They insist that when Fortenberry was asked about the $30,200, he simply couldn’t recall what he had been told by the host of the L.A. fundraiser — who was by then working as an FBI informant— in a phone call a year earlier.
The congressman, they claim, didn’t willfully lie to federal investigators — something prosecutors must prove to win a conviction.
‘A set up?’
“California prosecutors knew that Rep. Jeff Fortenberry had no information about illegal contributions to his campaign and have produced no evidence that he did,” said campaign spokesman Chad Kolton.
“Rather than enlist his help as the victim of these illegal contributions,” Kolton said, “they set Fortenberry up by directing an informant to feed him that information with the intention of trying to prosecute him.”
Credibility will be a key issue at the trial — the credibility of the FBI and federal prosecutors vs. that of Fortenberry, an ardent Catholic whose recent career has included work to help those persecuted in the Middle East by ISIS and others.
How much politics will creep into the trial of a politician from a deeply red state in a blue stronghold remains to be seen. Fortenberry’s attorneys attempted, unsuccessfully, to get the trial moved to Nebraska, a request prosecutors slammed as “venue shopping.”
Met Chagoury twice
The congressman had become a friend of Chagoury, prosecutors say, over their shared interest in “the cause” of protecting Christians being persecuted in the Middle East. They had twice met in person, once in Paris and once in Washington, D.C.
According to federal prosecutors, Fortenberry would often pass on his regards to Chagoury through the billionaire’s associate in Washington, Toufic Baaklini, founder of a group called “In Defense of Christians.” Baaklini helped set up the L.A. fundraiser where Fortenberry got the $30,200, at the congressman’s request.
Chagoury, a friend of former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton who has served as an ambassador to the Vatican, first won notoriety for donating between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation. His notoriety grew in 2016 after he sued several federal agencies when his visa was suspended because of suspicions that he supported Middle East terrorists. The lawsuit was later settled out of court, with the feds agreeing that he should not have been sanctioned.
$180,000 was total donated
In the case of conduit contributions, Chagoury agreed to pay a $1.8 million fine. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in California said he gave $180,000 in political gifts to a handful of American politicians, including Mitt Romney, and gave a $50,000 loan to Ray LaHood, who served as U.S. Secretary of Transportation.
Chagoury is not expected to testify at the Fortenberry trial. But Baaklini, who has since left In Defense of Christians, will, as will the host of the L.A. fundraiser, a physician referred to as “Individual H” in the federal indictment.
Jurors will hear recordings of phone calls between Fortenberry and Individual H, as well as excerpts from recordings of the two interviews with federal agents, one at Fortenberry’s house in March 2019 and a second interview, requested by the congressman, in July 2019 in Washington.
Aide was suspicious
The jury will also hear from a former campaign aide of Fortenberry’s, Alexandra Kendrick, who told investigators that she grew suspicious about the L.A. fundraiser because she hadn’t been provided a guest list prior to the event, which was unusual. She also related a “cautionary tale” of a fundraiser she had handled with another client involving “foreign nationals from the same community.”
“In the lead up to the 2016 fundraiser, Kendrick repeatedly emphasized to defendant the potential risk of illegal foreign and conduit contributions with this event,” stated a Feb. 15 memorandum from federal prosecutors.
After the fundraiser, Fortenberry asked Baaklini if he thought anything was wrong with it, given that all the money came from members of one family. Baaklini lied and said “no,” court records indicate.
In March 2016, just a few weeks after the L.A. fundraiser, the House passed a resolution introduced by Fortenberry and “favored” by Baaklini, Chagoury and In Defense of Christians, according to prosecutors.
Two years later, Fortenberry texted the host of the fundraiser, Individual H, and then later called him, asking for a second fundraiser to continue “the fine generosity” of the 2016 event.
Feds ‘implant’ information
Kolton, the Fortenberry spokesman, said the case will hinge on that 10-minute phone call from Individual H in 2018, one that was secretly recorded by the FBI. He also said that Kendrick’s warnings were general in nature, and not about Chagoury.
While prosecutors argue Fortenberry wasn’t truthful to them, Kolton maintained the feds used the call to “implant” information the congressman did not have — that the $30,200 originated from Chagoury.
“Jeff Fortenberry has always had great faith in the American people’s ability to judge what is fair and just,” Kolton said. “When the jury hears the facts in this case, they will recognize his innocence.”
Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com. Follow Nebraska Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.
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