OMAHA, Neb. — U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska expects to be charged with lying to the FBI while federal agents were investigating campaign contributions funneled to him from a Nigerian billionaire, the nine-term Republican said as he proclaimed his innocence and promised to fight the charges.
In a YouTube video posted Monday night, Fortenberry said he was “shocked” and “stunned” by the allegations and asked his supporters to rally behind him. Knowingly making false statements to a federal agent is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.
“We will fight these charges,” he said in the video, filmed inside a 1963 pickup truck with his wife, Celeste, and their dog, against a backdrop of corn. “I did not lie to them. I told them what I knew. But we need your help.”
The expected indictment stems from an FBI investigation into $180,000 in illegal campaign contributions from Gilbert Chagoury. The contributions were funneled through a group of Californians from 2012 through 2016 and went to four U.S. politicians, including $30,200 to Fortenberry in 2016 and $10,000 to then-Rep. Lee Terry, who represented the Omaha area in 2014.
The FBI office in Omaha referred questions Tuesday to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Central District of California. An office spokesman declined to comment.
Fortenberry’s campaign has said he didn’t know the donations, which the campaign received during a fundraiser in Los Angeles, originated with Chagoury.
Fortenberry, of Lincoln, said FBI agents from California came to his home about 2 1/2 years ago after he had been out dealing with a major storm that had just hit Nebraska. He said they questioned him about the contributions then and in a follow-up interview.
“I told them what I knew and what I understood,” he said.
Fortenberry represents the state’s 1st Congressional District, a heavily Republican area that includes Lincoln, surrounding farmland and small towns in eastern Nebraska. Fortenberry was first elected to the seat in 2004. He won his last election in 2020 with 60% of the vote and has generally defeated Democratic challengers by lopsided margins.
His statement that he expected to be indicted was first reported by the Omaha World-Herald.
His wife, Celeste, said in a statement emailed to supporters that the anticipated indictment “has all the marks of being a political attack, a bogus charge manufactured to take him out.”
The FBI investigation began during the administration of President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican. Celeste Fortenberry said her husband spoke with the agents voluntarily, without a lawyer, because he was under the impression that the agents needed his help to get to the bottom of the case.
She said he later called his friend, attorney and former congressman Trey Gowdy, for legal representation. She said her husband sat for another interview with agents in Washington and was repeatedly assured that he was not a target of the investigation.
She said they heard only “radio silence” from prosecutors until the Biden administration replaced the Trump administration in the U.S. attorney’s office, and prosecutors notified them that they were poised to seek charges.
She said the U.S. attorney involved is “in the running for a big promotion, and don’t forget the mid-term elections right around the corner for control of the House.”
