Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry announces re-election bid.
With U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry on the other facet of the country in Washington, D.C., attorneys argued in a California courtroom for two several hours Tuesday in excess of no matter if a judge must bar prosecutors from employing statements he built to federal brokers at his trial on allegations he lied to them.
The hearing arrived a day after the longtime politician introduced he would search for a 10th term symbolizing Nebraska’s 1st District in Congress this yr.
In Oct, a grand jury in Los Angeles indicted Fortenberry on two counts of generating fake statements to federal brokers and just one rely of searching for to conceal the supply of $30,000 in “conduit” political contributions from a 2016 California fundraiser.
The funds originated with Gilbert Chagoury, a Paris-based Nigerian of Lebanese descent, who purportedly directed the donations to Fortenberry due to the fact of a shared desire in defending Christians from persecution in the Middle East. It is illegal for foreigners to donate to U.S. political strategies.
Fortenberry has pleaded not guilty.
Final week, Decide Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. rejected 5 protection motions trying to get to dismiss the fees and to disqualify a person of the prosecuting attorneys.
In courtroom Tuesday, prior to the exact choose, a person of Fortenberry’s attorneys, Ryan Fraser, argued that the statements Fortenberry manufactured really should be suppressed mainly because he only talked to investigators right after a prosecutor advised his then-lawyer he wasn’t deemed a suspect, but somewhat was a issue, trending towards remaining considered a witness.