A defense lawyer for U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry tore into allegations Thursday that the congressman knowingly lied to federal investigators, saying it was quite possible he didn’t hear what was said in a pivotal 2018 cell phone call, didn’t understand what was said or was distracted.
Paul Hammel with the Nebraska Examiner reports that during his opening statements, defense attorney Glen Summers told jurors that the congressman often handled calls about fund-raising “on auto pilot” and that failing to hear even a couple of words in the phone call could have changed the entire context. “He didn’t lie to the agents ever,” Summers said. “He did precisely the opposite.”
Prosecutor Jamari Buxton said, however, that Fortenberry clearly understood what the host of a 2016 political fundraiser in Los Angeles told Fortenberry during a June 4, 2018, phone call — that the $30,000 he had received at that event “probably” originated from a Nigerian-Lebanese billionaire living in Paris, Gilbert Chagoury, making it an illegal “conduit” or “straw man” contribution.
“This is a case about choices,” Buxton told jurors. “A series of choices that led the defendant down a path of lies, concealment and deception.”
Hammel’s detailed story can be accessed here
(Photo: Paul Hammel)