Far-right MAGA lawmaker finally acknowledges 'previously undisclosed six-figure loan'

17 September 2024

Campaign finance questions have followed far-right Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tennessee) throughout his term in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he has been a frequent promotor of far-right social conservatism. Now, according to the Tennessee Lookout's Adam Friedman, the MAGA congressman has "acknowledged a previously undisclosed six-figure loan almost 10 months after news reports revealed its existence."

"On his 2023 U.S. House financial disclosure form, filed on September13," Friedman explains, "Ogles listed for the first time a loan worth between $500,001 to $1 million from FirstBank in September of 2022. The one-term congressman failed to disclose this on previous forms, a fact noted by Nashville NewsChannel 5 in November 2023, when it first reported on the loan."

The Tennessee Lookout reporter adds, "The missing loan was part of a complaint by the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan watchdog organization, which alleged that Ogles had nearly $1 million in financial discrepancies between his House disclosure form and campaign finance reports. Campaign finance discrepancies have plagued Ogles since he launched his bid for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District in April 2022."

According to Friedman, Ogles has been "plagued" by "campaign finance discrepancies…. since he launched his bid for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District in April 2022."

"Ogles told the public in a news release during the start of the campaign that he raised $450,000, but in reality, Ogles raised around $250,000 and claimed to loan his campaign $320,000," Friedman notes. "His claim of an early cash haul and his promise to use personal funds helped him secure support from conservatives on his way to winning a crowded 2022 Republican primary."

Friedman adds, "In May 2024, he amended campaign finance reports for the prior two years, stating that he had only loaned $20,000 to his campaign."

Before being elected to Congress, Ogles, now 53, served as mayor of Maury County, Tennessee. And he has championed far-right social conservatism in both positions.

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Ogles declared, "The next thing we have to do is go after gay marriage."

Read The Tennessee Lookout's full report at this link.

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