Justice Department agreed to return Rep. Andy Ogles’ cellphone that had been seized during a campaign-finance investigation, a development Ogles’ lawyers disclosed in court after a judge had not yet ruled on his challenge to whether investigators could review the device.
According to the disclosure, the FBI took Ogles’ personal cellphone in August 2024 to examine matters related to his campaign finance reporting. The FBI had agreed not to review material from the phone and his personal email account while Ogles challenged the seizure in court.
The Justice Department’s agreement surfaced in a Tuesday filing after defense attorneys told the court the government would “promptly” return his phone and destroy information it had obtained from it and from his Google email account, the Associated Press reported. The same report said the court had not yet issued a decision on Ogles’ challenge at the time his lawyers revealed the government’s voluntary agreement.
The probe began under President Joe Biden and later remained active under President Donald Trump, according to the report. The Justice Department’s decision followed a period when the case appeared stalled as the government awaited the judge’s ruling on whether investigators could examine the phone and emails.
The Associated Press said the criminal division’s decision came as the Justice Department faces intense scrutiny over its pursuit of perceived political enemies, naming former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James in that broader context.
Ogles’ lawyers told the court they were notified of the decision during discussions with the department’s criminal division, which the report said is now led by Assistant Attorney General Tysen Duva. The report also said the Justice Department did not immediately respond to questions on Wednesday about whether it was formally closing the Ogles investigation.
In a statement, Ogles called the outcome a “complete win for the responsible exercise of prosecutorial discretion and respect for the Constitution’s Separation of Powers,” adding that he had argued from the start that the investigation should not have happened. Ogles also said, “From the day the FBI showed up, I said this investigation should never have happened and that the Biden DOJ had no right to rummage through a sitting congressman’s legislative communications,” and that the department had effectively acknowledged he was right.
Ogles said the yearlong focus on his phone began after the FBI arrived in connection with what he described as “mistakes” in his initial financial filings that had been “widely reported for months.” The report said Ogles reported making a $320,000 loan to his campaign committee in 2022, then later amended his filings to show he had only loaned his campaign $20,000.
The Associated Press said Ogles told news outlets he originally meant to “pledge” $320,000 but that the $320,000 amount was mistakenly included in campaign reports. The report added that Ogles is still facing a House Ethics Committee investigation, even as the Justice Department’s agreement to return the phone signals an end to its ability to use seized device and email information in the probe.