NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — If Congressman Andy Ogles was hoping the Trump administration would drop its criminal investigation into his troubled campaign finances, the Tennessee Republican was likely disappointed by a filing Wednesday in federal court.
U.S. Attorney Braden H. Boucek, who was sworn in Dec. 24 as the chief federal prosecutor for the Middle District of Tennessee, had been directed by U.S. Magistrate Judge Alistair Newbern to file a notice about the status of the investigation of Ogles.
But, instead of closing the matter as Ogles’ supporters had hoped, the filing by Boucek and the U.S. Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section made it clear that they are still waiting on the judge to rule on whether the FBI can look at evidence seized from Ogles.
"Thus, the parties have been awaiting a ruling on the Defendant's Motions to return property for more than 14 months," the filing concludes, asking that the court advise the parties on the status of her long-expected ruling.
Ironically, after not ruling on the case for 14 months, Newbern resigned from her federal magistrate position effective Jan. 2, leaving the controversy for another judge to handle.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates has reached out to Ogles' legal team for comment, but they have yet to offer a formal response.
Beginning in 2024, the stalwart supporter of President Trump had become the focus of an FBI investigation into potential fraud involving campaign finance statements he filed during his first run for Congress in 2022.
Specifically, Ogles claimed to have personally loaned his campaign $320,000 of his own money.
An exclusive NewsChannel 5 investigation first raised questions about those reports, uncovering evidence that Ogles did not appear to have the financial resources to make such a loan. The Maury County Republican later filed amended campaign reports declaring that he had only loaned his campaign $20,000.
Similar allegations led to the indictment of New York Congressman George Santos on federal fraud charges, leading to his eventual guilty plea and resignation.
A congressional ethics investigation has so far confirmed NewsChannel 5’s questions, with Ogles’ treasurer speculating in sworn testimony that the Republican may have misrepresented the amount of money he had available to make his campaign look stronger in order to “buy the primary.”
Court filings show that the FBI served a search warrant on Google in July 2024 for Ogles' personal email account. Then, on the day after the August primary, FBI agents showed up at Ogles' farm with a second search warrant to seize his personal cell phone.
Still, Ogles' team of high-powered attorneys had managed to keep the FBI from looking at the evidence, arguing that the FBI as part of the Executive Branch should not be able to see any communications regarding legislative business. They had asked Magistrate Newbern to allow them to work with the court cull out any evidence regarding legislative matters.
Federal prosecutors agreed not to look at the evidence from Ogles’ email and phone until Newbern resolved the legal challenge.
In January 2025, after the inauguration of Donald Trump for his second term, acting U.S. Attorney Rob McGuire filed a notice to withdraw two assistant U.S. attorneys from the on-going legal dispute over the FBI's access to that evidence. McGuire's motion said the case would be handled completely out of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
As NewsChannel 5 has previously reported, Ogles has appeared to attempt to curry favor with President Trump, introducing a resolution that has no chance of passing Congress to allow Trump to seek a third term, as well as a resolution supporting his bid to take over Greenland.
Ogles also showed up in support of President Trump at his hush-money trial in Manhattan.
The second-term congressman still faces an investigation by the U.S. House Ethics Committee over that report of the $320,000 personal loan.
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