Shortly after won his primary bid for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) took possession of his cell phone last week as part of an investigation into his campaign’s financial filings.
According to a report from The Daily Caller,the freshman congressman and House Freedom Caucus member said that the FBI search is in relation to “well-known facts” surrounding “mistakes in [his] initial financial filings,” and he vowed to “fully cooperate” with the bureau and the Federal Election Commission.
“It has been widely reported for months that my campaign made mistakes in our initial financial filings,” Ogles said in the post. “We have worked diligently with attorneys and reporting experts to correct the errors and ensure compliance going forward.”
“It is my understanding that they are investigating the same well-known facts surrounding these filings,” Ogles also said. “I will of course fully cooperate with them, just as I have with the Federal Election Commission. I am confident all involved will conclude that the reporting discrepancies were based on honest mistakes, and nothing more.”
It has been widely reported for months that my campaign made mistakes in our initial financial filings. We have worked diligently with attorneys and reporting experts to correct the errors and ensure compliance going forward. Last Friday, the FBI took possession of my cell phone.…
— Congressman Andy Ogles (@AndyOgles) August 6, 2024
According to The Hill, the finance discrepancy surrounds a $320,000 loan that Ogles reportedly made to his own campaign in 2022.
The Campaign Legal Center subsequently filed a complaint with the Congressional Ethics Office in January for failing to disclose “the assets that he purportedly used” to take out the loan and for failing to report a $700,000 line of credit he opened in 2022, this according to the same report.
According to the Associated Press (AP), last Thursday, Ogles defeated a well-funded Republican opponent, Nashville Metro Councilmember Courtney Johnston, by 12 percentage points, despite her description of Ogles as a “do-nothing grandstander” who is “mired in scandals.”
The AP also reported that Ogles was among the Republican holdouts in Kevin McCarthy’s prolonged speakership nomination, voting against him 11 times before switching to support him. When McCarthy was ousted in October, Ogles voted against removing him.
The FBI and the United States Attorney’s Office of the Middle District of Tennessee both told the Daily Caller News Foundation that they would neither “confirm nor deny” the initial reports surrounding the FBI search.
Ogles’ office and his attorney both did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.