Among the most scandalous developments that have unfolded at Donald Trump’s unraveling Justice Department is the frequency with which federal prosecutors have investigated and indicted the president’s perceived political foes. But nearly as important as the cases the DOJ has pursued are the cases that federal prosecutors have dropped.
Take the latest developments in Tennessee, for example. WTVF, the CBS affiliate in Nashville, reported:
The U.S. Department of Justice appears to be preparing to drop a nearly two-year criminal investigation of Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles, agreeing to return or destroy evidence seized from the diehard MAGA Republican before the FBI ever got a chance to review it.
That criminal investigation had focused on potential fraud involving campaign finance reports filed by the Maury County Republican during his first run for Congress in 2022.
A press statement from the far-right congressman’s defense attorneys confirmed that the Justice Department did, in fact, agree to return the phone federal agents had seized from Ogles, as well as to destroy the information the DOJ had obtained from his phone and Google account.
In the recent past, this outcome would have seemed unrealistic.
Ogles was already a scandal-plagued congressman when WTVF reported in late 2023 that the congressman’s financial reports showed he had made a $320,000 personal loan to his 2022 campaign. That might not have been especially problematic, since candidates routinely make such loans, were it not for the fact that Ogles’ financial disclosures suggested he didn’t have $320,000.
Steve Benen
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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