Washington– The Department of Justice has agreed to return U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles’ personal cellphone It was seized as part of an investigation into his campaign financesWhich suggests it is abandoning its investigation into the powerful Trump supporter that began under the Biden administration.
The FBI seized the Tennessee Republican’s cellphone in August 2024 to examine problems with his campaign finance reports, but agreed not to review material from him and his personal email account while he challenges the matter in court.
The judge had not yet ruled on Ogles’ challenge when defense attorneys revealed in a court filing Tuesday that the Justice Department had voluntarily agreed to return his phone “immediately” and destroy information it obtained from him and his Google email account.
The investigation began under Democratic President Joe Biden and remained open under Republican President Donald Trump, but was halted while the government was awaiting a judge’s ruling on whether investigators could examine Ogles’ phone and emails. The Justice Department’s criminal division last year, led by acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti, concluded that the investigation should move forward even after local Tennessee prosecutors withdrew from the case, the criminal division’s prosecutor wrote in an email last July urging Tennessee attorneys to reconsider.
The move comes as the Justice Department faces intense scrutiny over its prosecution of Trump’s political enemies, including… Former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia JamesDemocrat.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to questions Wednesday about its decision and whether it would formally close the Ogles investigation. Ogles’ lawyers told the court they were notified of the decision during discussions with the department’s criminal division, which is now led by Assistant Attorney General Tysen Duva.
Ogles called it “a complete victory for the responsible exercise of prosecutorial power and respect for the separation of powers in the Constitution.” Ogles still faces an investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
“From the day the FBI showed up, I said this investigation should never have happened, and that the Biden Justice Department had no right to search a member of Congress’ legislative communications,” Ogles said in a statement. “Today the Department of Justice actually admitted that I was right.”
At the time his phone was seized, Ogles said his understanding was that the FBI was investigating “mistakes” in his initial financial files that had been “widely reported for months.”
Ogles reported making a $320,000 loan to his campaign committee in 2022. He later amended his filings to show that he only loaned his campaign $20,000, telling media outlets that he originally intended to “pledge” $320,000 but that pledge was mistakenly included in his campaign reports.