DOJ Asks to Drop Charges Against Former Republican Lawmaker

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) walks through the Capitol Building in Washington on Oct. 15, 2013. Andrew Burton/Getty Images

U.S. prosecutors on Jan. 29 asked a federal judge to drop the charges the U.S. Department of Justice brought against former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) in 2024.

“Pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 48(a), the United States of America, by and through the undersigned counsel, hereby moves to dismiss the Indictment against the Defendant with prejudice,” interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Edward R. Martin Jr. and acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Joseph T. McNally said in a motion.

With prejudice means the charges are not able to be brought again.

“Counsel for the Defendant has indicated that they do not oppose the motion,” prosecutors said.

A lawyer representing Fortenberry did not respond to a request for comment.

U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden, who is overseeing the case, has not yet acted on the motion.

Fortenberry, 64, while still in office in 2021 was charged with scheming to falsify facts and making false statements to authorities investigating contributions to his campaign.

A jury in 2022 found Fortenberry guilty, prompting his resignation from the House of Representatives.

The criminal conviction was overturned in 2023. An appeals court said that Fortenberry should not have been tried in California. Prosecutors brought the case there because that’s where federal agents working the investigation were based.

The appeals court said prosecutors could seek a new trial in Nebraska or Washington, and prosecutors recharged Fortenberry in Washington in 2024.

The indictment said that authorities investigating illegal campaign contributions by a foreigner discovered that the foreigner used conduits to contribute $30,200 to the 2016 campaign of Fortenberry.

The representative was later informed that his campaign received illegal contributions, but Fortenberry did not alert federal officials, according to charging documents. He also did not disgorge the contributions until after speaking with federal investigators in 2019.

Fortenberry pleaded not guilty to the fresh charges, which were set to head to a trial in February 2025.

President Donald Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform on Wednesday that it was great to see prosecutors had dropped the charges against Fortenberry, who he described as “a longtime proud and highly respected American public servant.”

Trump added: “Jeff and his family were forced to suffer greatly due to the illegal Weaponization of our Justice System by the Radical Left Democrats. Jeff’s ‘case’ was originally overturned by the Ninth Circuit, but the ‘persecutors’ would not leave it alone.”