The FBI and U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles are still awaiting a ruling from Magistrate Judge Alistair Newbern on whether the bureau can execute a search warrant on Ogles’ phone and Gmail account. The last filing in the docket was a withdrawal of federal prosecutors from the case on Jan. 31. Newbern’s pending retirement on Jan. 2, 2026, means that the clock is ticking.
The warrants followed a prolonged FBI investigation into campaign finance filings from Ogles’ 2022 run for Congress. In those filings, Ogles claimed he’d personally loaned $320,00 to his campaign, but a NewsChannel 5 investigation revealed some alleged murkiness about where that money came from.
In the report, Ogles listed an investment property and three retirement accounts, but no bank accounts. His campaign later filed altered reports adjusting the amount he loaned his campaign to $20,000.
In July 2024, the FBI served Google with a search warrant for access to Ogles’ Gmail account, then showed up at Ogles’ farm in Maury County a month later with a warrant for his cell phone.
A subsequent battle in federal court has resulted in an impasse, with Ogles’ legal team arguing that it is unconstitutional for the FBI, as members of the Executive Branch, to read and review “sensitive legislative correspondence between Members of Congress” on Ogles’ phone and in his emails.