Rep. Andy Ogles Vindicated: DOJ Returns Phone, Destroys Seized Materials

The U.S. Department of Justice has agreed to return the phone federal agents seized from Congressman Andy Ogles in August of 2024, and to destroy all information it obtained from his phone and Google account. That decision comes nearly two years after Congressman Ogles filed emergency motions for the return of his property, asserting his protections as a Member of Congress under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause.

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The Department’s action vindicates Congressman Ogles’s long-standing argument that the Executive Branch had no business reviewing his legislative communications and effectively moots his motions in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, which the Congressman withdrew Tuesday, May 5.

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The day after Congressman Ogles won his Republican primary in August 2024, the FBI executed search warrants on his cell phone and Google account, seizing communications protected by the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause. He immediately filed emergency motions for return of the property, raising complex and novel issues that federal courts in Tennessee have not yet considered. The Department’s investigation centered on a campaign finance reporting issue the Congressman has consistently addressed and came at a time when the Department repeatedly seized phones and communications from Members of Congress without regard for the Constitution’s Separation of Powers.

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“This is a complete win for the responsible exercise of prosecutorial discretion and respect for the Constitution’s Separation of Powers,” said Congressman Ogles. “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. Today the Justice Department has effectively acknowledged I was right. I’m grateful to the Trump Justice Department for righting this wrong and to my legal team for fighting for me every step of the way. Now I can get back to doing the work the people of Tennessee’s 5th District sent me to Washington to do.”

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“Congressman Ogles was right on the law from day one, but he had to fight for almost two years at great personal and financial expense to prove it,” said Litson partner Alex Little. “The government’s decision to return the phone and destroy the materials confirms what we’ve said all along: those communications should never have been seized in the first place. There’s a hard constitutional line around investigations of sitting members of Congress, and this case shows why that line exists.”

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Congressman Ogles is represented by John Rowley and John Irving of SECIL Law PLLC, David Raybin of Raybin & Weissman, P.C., and Alex Little, Zack Lawson, and John Ross Glover of Litson PLLC.

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