Advertisement
Supported by
Representative Jeff Fortenberry was accused of lying to F.B.I. agents investigating illegal foreign donations.
Send any friend a story
As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.
LOS ANGELES — A Nebraska congressman who was convicted Thursday on charges that he lied to federal authorities about having received an illegal campaign contribution from a foreign citizen is facing calls to resign.
Representative Jeff Fortenberry, a Republican, was convicted in federal court in Los Angeles on three felony counts, including one count of falsifying and concealing material facts and two counts of making false statements. Each carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, according to the Justice Department. A sentencing hearing was set for June 28, and Mr. Fortenberry has vowed to appeal the decision.
Representative Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, told reporters on Friday morning that Mr. Fortenberry should step down.
“I think if he wants to appeal, he can go through that as a private citizen,” Mr. McCarthy said, speaking at a House G.O.P. retreat in Florida. “When someone’s convicted it’s time to resign.”
He added that he planned to speak with Mr. Fortenberry later in the day.
Nebraska’s governor, Pete Ricketts, also called on Mr. Fortenberry to leave Congress.
“I hope Jeff Fortenberry will do the right thing and resign so his constituents have that certainty while he focuses on his family and other affairs,” Mr. Ricketts, a Republican, said in a statement on Friday.
Outside the courthouse on Thursday, Mr. Fortenberry told reporters that he would continue to fight the conviction.
“We always felt like it was going to be hard to have a fair process here,” he said. “This appeal starts immediately.”
A spokesman for the congressman declined to say whether Mr. Fortenberry would step down.
“He’s spending time with his family right now,” the spokesman, Chad Kolton, said in an email. “That’s what’s most important today.”
Although Mr. Fortenberry had already forfeited his committee assignments in accordance with House Republican rules for members who face federal indictments, a conviction does not automatically disqualify him from keeping his seat. He could be expelled, if two-thirds of House members vote to approve, but such a measure is exceedingly rare. Many House members who are convicted of crimes resign well before reaching that point.
In October, when he was charged, the congressman maintained his innocence.
“Five and a half years ago, a person from overseas illegally moved money to my campaign,” Mr. Fortenberry said in a video he posted online at the time. “I didn’t know anything about this.”
He was convicted after a weeklong trial.
“The lies in this case threatened the integrity of the American electoral system and were designed to prevent investigators from learning the true source of campaign funds,” said Tracy L. Wilkison, one of the prosecutors.
Mr. Fortenberry, who has been in Congress for almost two decades, received a $30,000 donation to his re-election campaign at a fund-raiser in 2016, according to the federal indictment in the case. Foreign citizens are prohibited from donating to U.S. election campaigns.
Rather than report the contribution in an amended filing with the Federal Election Commission or return the money, as federal law dictates, prosecutors said Mr. Fortenberry kept it and told investigators in 2019 that he had been unaware of any contributions made by foreign citizens.
The charges did not stem from the donation itself, which came from Gilbert Chagoury, a Lebanese Nigerian billionaire who was accused of conspiring to make illegal campaign contributions to American politicians in exchange for access to them.
The charges came after prosecutors said Mr. Fortenberry denied knowing that the donation, which had been funneled through an intermediary, was from Mr. Chagoury — even after the congressman told a cooperating witness, a fund-raiser referred to in court filings as Individual H, that the donation “probably did come from Gilbert Chagoury.”
Federal investigators first interviewed Mr. Fortenberry in 2019 as part of an investigation into Mr. Chagoury, who admitted to giving $180,000 to four candidates from June 2012 to March 2016. Mr. Fortenberry was one of those four.
Mr. Chagoury ultimately reached a deal with the U.S. government and paid a $1.8 million fine.
In court documents, prosecutors said Mr. Chagoury had been told to donate to “politicians from less-populous states because the contribution would be more noticeable to the politician and thereby would promote increased donor access.”
Katie Benner and Annie Karni contributed reporting.
Advertisement