Charges against pro-life former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry dropped

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 30, 2025 / 16:05 pm (CNA).

A federal judge granted a request from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to drop criminal charges against former Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, a Catholic and prominent pro-life leader who left Congress after being charged with making false statements during a probe into alleged illegal campaign donations.

Court records show Judge Trevor N. McFadden of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia signed the order on Wednesday, Jan. 29, on the same day the DOJ filed a legal motion to dismiss the charges.

Fortenberry’s charges were dismissed with prejudice, which prevents a future administration from bringing the same charges against the former Republican lawmaker from Nebraska at a later date.

“President [Donald] Trump knows better than anyone what false accusations and political persecution mean,” Fortenberry said in a statement, according to the Nebraska Examiner.

“The American people gave President Trump a mandate to end witch hunts like these and restore confidence in our justice system,” he said. “He kept his promises to America, in the very first days of his presidency, and we are so grateful. I want to thank all who loved and supported my family and me through this ordeal.”

Fortenberry represented Nebraska’s 1st District in the House from 2005 until 2022 when he resigned following his initial conviction. He had an A+ rating from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and introduced the Care for Her Act in 2021 to support women who face unplanned pregnancies. He also cosigned a congressional amicus brief that urged the United States Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The motion to dismiss was brought by four attorneys for the DOJ, including Edward R. Martin Jr., who was recently appointed by Trump to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Trump has been critical of the DOJ’s case against Fortenberry and praised the DOJ’s decision to drop the charges.

“It is great to see that the [DOJ] has dropped the witch hunt against former Congressman Jeff Fortenberry, a longtime proud and highly respected American public servant,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “Jeff and his family were forced to suffer greatly due to the illegal weaponization of our justice system by the radical-left Democrats.”

Fortenberry was accused of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about his 2016 House of Representatives campaign receiving $30,000 in illegal campaign donations from a foreign national.

The former lawmaker was first indicted in 2021 for the alleged crimes in the Central District of California. Although he was convicted, an appellate court overruled that conviction, finding that he had been charged in an improper venue because he was interviewed by federal agents in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Washington, D.C., but not in California.

That ruling, however, permitted the charges to be refiled in an appropriate court. In May 2024, federal prosecutors refiled the charges in Washington, D.C., which was one of the locations at which he was interviewed by the FBI agents.

In a Jan. 29 post on TruthSocial, Trump said the federal prosecutors “would not leave it alone” when they chose to refile charges and asserted “the charges were totally baseless.”

“That scam is now over, so Jeff and his family can go back to having a great life together and be a part of our country’s future as we MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” the president said. “I am very proud of our Department of Justice, something I have not been able to say for many years!”