GOP Rep. Andy Ogles says FBI confiscated his cellphone in campaign finance probe

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee said Tuesday that the FBI confiscated his cellphone in an investigation into issues with his campaign finance reporting.

The first-term member of the conservative Freedom Caucus said on the social platform X that the FBI took his phone last Friday and he promised to fully cooperate with the agency, saying he already has done so with the Federal Election Commission.

Ogles had just defeated an opponent in a Republican primary election the day before with an endorsement from former President Donald Trump,

Ogles said his understanding is that the FBI is investigating “mistakes in our initial financial filings” that have been “widely reported for months.” Among the discrepancies: Ogles had reported that he loaned his 2022 campaign $320,000, but in recent months adjusted the report to remove the loan.

“I am confident all involved will conclude that the reporting discrepancies were based on honest mistakes, and nothing more,” Ogles said in the post.

Ogles also was the subject of a January ethics complaint by the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center over his personal and campaign finances, in which the group compared him to expelled GOP U.S. Rep. George Santos of New York.

An FBI spokesperson said that under Justice Department policy, it could not confirm nor deny an investigation, and referred questions to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee. An official with the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.

Ogles faces Democrat Maryam Abolfazli in the November election. Her campaign did not immediately return an emailed request for comment.

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.”

Ogles won the seat in 2022 after Republicans redrew the state’s congressional districts to their advantage after the last census, splitting the heavily Democratic Nashville area into three seats and forcing Nashville’s then-Democratic congressman, Jim Cooper, into retirement.

Ogles is a former mayor of Maury County, two counties south of Nashville.

• Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.