Demonstrators take part in a 'No Kings' protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's policies, in McAllen, Texas, U.S., June 14, 2025. REUTERS/Gabriel V. Cardenas

Reeling from a federal campaign finance investigation, U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles landed approval for a legal expense trust fund to pay nearly $120,500 he owes four law firms, documents show.

Ogles, a Maury County Republican who dodged a criminal investigation into his finances, sent a letter to House Committee on Ethics chairs in October 2024 requesting permission to set up the trust fund to pay legal expenses connected to the probe of reporting errors in his Federal Election Commission and financial disclosure reports, according to records obtained by the Lookout.

James Appel of GOP Compliance LLC will serve as trustee of the fund, which cannot take donations from lobbyists or foreign agents, documents show. Appel reported to ethics leaders he’s had no connection to Ogles for two years, which is a requirement to take the job.

“I understand that I will be bound by the Committee’s Legal Expense Fund Regulations, effective May 1, 2024, and that while the Trustee will oversee the Trust, I bear ultimate responsibility for the proper administration of the Trust,” Ogles said in his letter.

A spokesperson for Ogles did not return email questions Thursday.

The committee approved the request in December 2024 for Ogles to pay $75,000 in legal fees, before he incurred $50,000 more in legal expenses this year. Chairs Michael Guest, a Mississippi Republican, and Mark DeSaulnier, a California Democrat, signed the letter notifying him of the requirements for setting up such a trust, including the filing of quarterly reports.

U.S. House ethics board calls for more investigation of Tennessee 5th District congressman

Ogles owes the money for legal representation from October 2024 through June 2025 after an Ethics Committee panel started looking into discrepancies in his campaign finance reporting. It found he likely violated federal campaign finance laws, mainly by reporting an inflated personal loan to make his bid for office look stronger in 2022.

Running in Tennessee’s redrawn 5th Congressional District, which state lawmakers gerrymandered to help Republicans to take over the Democratic stronghold of Nashville, Ogles in 2022 reported receiving a $320,000 personal loan for his campaign. Ogles initially said he raised $450,000 for the race, yet his first FEC report showed he brought in only $250,000.

Ogles amended campaign finance reports in May 2024 and acknowledged making a $20,000 loan to his campaign and saying the additional $300,000 was in a joint account he shared with his wife. Still, he and his campaign manager couldn’t confirm the source of the $20,000.

The ethics board voted 6-0 to call for a closer look at Ogles’ finances because “there is substantial reason to believe that Rep. Ogles omitted or misrepresented required information in his finance disclosure statements or FEC candidate committee reports.”

Despite the congressional investigation, U.S. prosecutors dropped a fraud probe of Ogles after he filed legislation this year to allow President Donald Trump to serve three terms.

Federal election officials threaten Ogles with campaign finance audit or enforcement – again

Before his problematic financial reporting, Ogles inflated his resume, reports show, including claiming to have a degree from Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management when he obtained only a certificate for a weekend seminar.

In his second term, the former Tennessee director of Americans for Prosperity recently went after Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell for his opposition to a federal sweep of South Nashville for immigrants. Ogles also called for an investigation into Belmont University for allegedly enrolling students without permanent legal documentation of citizenship and disguising its diversity and equity program.

Based on his fundraising this year, Ogles clearly needs financial help to pay his attorneys.

He has a little more than $59,000 in his campaign account, according to FEC reports, a paltry sum for a sitting member of Congress.

If he can’t bring in any more than that to boost his re-election campaign for 2026, it’s going to be tough to find enough donors to fill up his legal defense trust fund. That is, unless Trump keeps him afloat with some of the $240 million his organizations such as the new super PAC, MAGA Inc., collected to back his agenda, which usually means keeping supporters at his beck and call.

No need to change execution protocol

Gov. Bill Lee won’t look into the execution of Byron Black to determine whether he suffered terribly in the moments before his recent death.

Asked by an Associated Press reporter who witnessed the deadly moment in which Black gasped, moved his head and said it “hurts so bad,” Lee said he sees no need for more review. He explained that the state already went through a “long process” on execution protocol after he suspended the death penalty for two years. The guidelines, which involve the use of pentobarbital to put inmates such as Black to death, were approved by the federal and state Supreme Courts, he said.

While this eliminates one of the possible causes of the reason that Mr. Black lifted his head, groaned, and cried out in pain after the execution began, it leaves many questions unanswered.

– Kelley Henry, attorney for Byron Black

“There’s been an exhaustive review of that process, and that was the process utilized, so I’m not expecting further investigation of that,” Lee said.

Black was on death row for 35 years for the 1988 murders of his girlfriend, Angela Clay, and her two children. His attorneys tried to stop the execution, claiming he was mentally incompetent and arguing that the Supreme Court should review the case to decide whether he should be executed without deactivating an implanted defibrillator, that could keep him alive even as drugs were administered, violating a constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

Black’s attorney, Kelley Henry, sent out a statement afterward saying the initial evaluation of his defibrillator showed it didn’t shock him during the execution.

“While this eliminates one of the possible causes of the reason that Mr. Black lifted his head, groaned, and cried out in pain after the execution began, it leaves many questions unanswered,” Henry said.

An autopsy report could take eight to 12 weeks, and Henry said more information will be sought to figure out what went wrong.

“But make no mistake, we all saw with our own eyes that the pentobarbital did not work like the state’s expert testified that it would,” Henry said. “Mr. Black suffered.”

Complaint could backfire

Tennessee’s Ethics Commission could take action against Memphis area residents after dismissing their sworn complaint against Sen. Brent Taylor for critical remarks he made against participants of a “No Kings” rally there.

Commission members and state ethics director Bill Young raised questions this week about whether the residents tried to “weaponize” the process to go after Taylor, a Shelby County Republican who blasted people who rallied against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies in June, calling them “idiots” and warning the police would arrest them for an illegal protest. Taylor spoke on a Memphis radio station and then posted comments on the X, formerly Twitter, calling the protesters “purple-haired Jihadis.”

The Left’s violence masquerading as free speech is a stain on our republic, and it’s escalating at a terrifying pace. From assassination attempts on President Trump—twice in two months—to torching cars at Tesla dealerships during Tesla Takedowns. Members of “Progressive” groups… pic.twitter.com/cQcTUEjcNb
— Senator Brent Taylor (@SenBrentTaylor) June 14, 2025

Five people who filed identical complaints against him said he used his official position “to spread false, inflammatory and dangerous misinformation about a peaceful protest event,” endangering constituents and inciting harassment.

Young told the commission it didn’t have jurisdiction to cite Taylor, in part, because he didn’t benefit financially from the criticism. The executive director also told the commission it could hold a hearing to determine whether civil penalties should be levied against the complainants for filing a “frivolous” complaint, potentially leading to a $10,000 civil penalty.

Commission members agreed it’s “not unethical” for Taylor to state his opinion and that voters should decide whether he remains in office. Ultimately, they decided to defer action until their next meeting when two members who were absent this week could attend.

Taylor’s attorney, Allan Wade, said in a letter to the commissioner the complaints were “merely personal grievances about Brent Taylor’s dislike of complainants and their political views, which is not a proper subject of an ethics complaint under the Ethics Act.”

That could be true, but the ultimate question is whether the Ethics Commission is more concerned with making an example of people who, wrong or right, see it as a last resort for justice or giving politicians the freedom to bad-mouth the public.

Endorsement or not

The day after U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn announced her candidacy for governor, she sent out a list of political luminaries from which she “garners tremendous support” and topped it with a comment from Gov. Lee.

The governor, though, told reporters this week he is not endorsing in the governor’s race, which so far pits Blackburn against U.S. Rep. John Rose of Cookeville.

“I didn’t see what she put out, but I’ve been friends with Marsha for a long time,” Lee told reporters (both are from Williamson County). “She served as my congressman and representative in the General Assembly, so I’m proud that we have really good people running for governor in this state, grateful that the 51st governor will be someone who can continue to move this state forward.”

We love it when Lee takes a strong stand.

In issuing a list of supporters, though, Blackburn seems to be massaging words or, maybe, even pulling a page from Ogles’ political playbook.