Fortenberry already confronted severe opposition within the Might Republican major from state Sen. Mike Flood, a former speaker of the state’s unicameral legislature who has endorsements from Gov. Pete Ricketts and former Gov. Dave Heineman, whereas Democrats are fielding state Sen. Patty Pansing. Candidate submitting closed weeks in the past, so it’s too late for anybody else to run following the congressman’s conviction.
Fortenberry had all the time decisively received re-election, and he gave the impression to be on observe for an additional straightforward victory till he was indicted in October. Prosecutors argued that Chagoury had used straw donors to illegally funnel $180,000 to 4 completely different Republican candidates, together with $30,000 to Fortenberry’s 2016 marketing campaign; Chagoury, who grew to become near Fortenberry due to their mutual assist for oppressed Christians within the Center East, agreed to pay a $1.8 million fine in 2021 however prevented jail time.
Federal investigators say that the opposite three candidates quickly disposed of Chagoury’s contributions after they had been knowledgeable that they’d come from an unlawful supply, but the Nebraskan as a substitute stored the cash for two-and-a-half years and “repeatedly selected to hide the violations of federal legislation to guard his job, his status, and his shut associates,” in response to prosecutors.
In arguments to the jury, prosecutors mentioned that Chagoury positioned $30,000 in money in a bag and gave it to an ally named Toufic Baaklini, who handed it to Los Angeles physician Eli Ayoub. Ayoub, they argued, then distributed that money to his kinfolk and had them write checks to Fortenberry’s marketing campaign as a way to conceal the cash’s true origin. Prosecutors additionally performed a recording of a 2018 name secretly taped by the FBI during which Ayoub was heard telling the congressman that he’d obtained the cash from Baaklini and believed that it “most likely got here from Chagoury.” Regardless of being informed of the funds’ questionable origin, prosecutors identified, Fortenberry didn’t disclose this info to the authorities afterward.
As a substitute, investigators charged, Fortenberry “lied to and misled authorities” twice throughout their probe that unfolded the next 12 months. They mentioned Fortenberry had falsely informed them that he’d ended that decision with Ayoub after he’d made a “regarding remark,” when the truth is he’d continued the dialog by asking Ayoub to carry one other fundraiser on his behalf.
If Fortenberry doesn’t resign, it will take a two-thirds majority of the Home to vote to expel him from workplace. The final time this occurred was 2002, when Democratic Rep. James Traficant of Ohio was ejected by his colleagues three months after he was found guilty on corruption charges. (Traficant tried to regain his seat that 12 months from jail by working as an unbiased however ended up taking third with 15%.)
Till his indictment, Fortenberry was greatest identified nationally for a 2018 incident during which his chief of employees tried to threaten the job of an area professor who in 2018 “appreciated” a Fb publish that includes a photograph of a marketing campaign signal that had been doctored to provide the candidate googly eyes and rename him “Fartenberry.”
