Aaron Sanderford
LINCOLN — Attorneys for former U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., explained in court filings this week why they want to stall the federal government’s re-filed case against him.
They asked for two more months to give the next leaders of the Justice Department, who will be appointed by President-elect Donald Trump, time to weigh in and perhaps drop the felony charges.
The filing for a continuance says Fortenberry wants to delay his criminal trial until early April. It is scheduled for Feb. 3 in Washington, D.C.
Fortenberry’s attorneys want the feds to rethink prosecuting him again for allegedly lying to the FBI about illegal foreign donations given to his congressional campaign in 2016.
Prosecutors are also getting pressure from U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a former colleague of Fortenberry’s in Congress who chairs the House Judiciary Committee.
Jordan wrote the Justice Department a letter asking them last week to preserve documents and correspondence about the case, hinting that his committee might consider launching a probe.
Fortenberry was convicted in 2022 of concealing those foreign donations and lying to federal agents about whether he knew the donations were illegal, based on recorded conversations.
A Los Angeles-area jury found Fortenberry guilty of three felonies in 2022. A federal judge sentenced him to probation and community service and ordered him to pay a fine.
Prosecutors sought a six-month prison sentence, arguing that Fortenberry repeatedly misled FBI agents about the source of $30,000 in foreign campaign contributions.
Fortenberry’s attorneys had argued he was prosecuted for political reasons, which prosecutors denied. Prosecutors pointed to charges filed against House and Senate Democrats, too.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Fortenberry’s conviction in late 2023 on a technicality: because prosecutors charged him in California, where the fundraiser took place.
The court sided with arguments by Fortenberry’s attorneys that he should have been tried instead in Nebraska or Washington, D.C., where they alleged Fortenberry lied to federal agents.
The new charges focus on lying to or misleading federal agents and falsifying or concealing material facts.