Imagine.

Your highly public career is at stake.

Your headlines have gone from “Rescued Afghan Interpreter” to “Lied to the FBI.”

You’re the father of five facing 15 years in federal prison.

And the man looking to send you there is a highly decorated legal eagle with a resume that includes prosecution of a case that is “Memorialized in an episode of MSNBC's American Greed.”

Nebraska Congressman Jeff Fortenberry, a Republican, doesn't have to imagine any of that, it’s all about him.

And that prosecutor is Assistant US Attorney Mack Jenkins, who heads up the Central District of California’s Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, which according to the Justice Department website is aimed at:  “Preserving the government’s integrity, reforming corrupt behavior, and protecting citizens’ constitutional rights.”

Jenkins, a Yale Law School graduate, received Public Counsel’s Volunteer Attorney of the Year Award in 2007, two California Lawyer’s Attorney of the Year Awards in 2014 and 2017, the 2019 Department of Justice Director’s Award, the Anti-Defamation League’s Combatting Hate Award in 2020, and the Daily Journal’s Top 100 Lawyers in California” award in 2020.

According to the government, Jenkins’ hands-on workload includes:

  • The office’s first wiretap of a sitting state senator in decades, that resulted in federal corruption convictions against former California Senator Ron Calderon and his brother, former California Assemblyman Tom Calderon.
  • Prosecuted the District’s first RICO case against a Bloods/Crips gang. A 45-defendant indictment found all of the Pueblo Bishop Bloods convicted of RICO and related charges, and two defendants—who were previously acquitted on state charges—were both separately convicted of federal murder. 
  • That MSNBC episode which stemmed from Jenkins’ prosecution of one of the largest “ink and jet” counterfeiting schemes uncovered by the Secret Service.

During Fortenberry’s first court appearance Wednesday, Jenkins said the nine-term Congressman had violated his oath of office in a “disturbing way.”

Fortenberry pleaded not guilty and his attorney, John Littrell, told the court the charges against Fortenberry have tarnished his reputation and Fortenberry will be taking the case to trial, no plea deal will be accepted.

According to the government, Fortenberry’s wrongdoing occurred during an investigation into illegal contributions made to the congressman’s 2016 re-election campaign; contributions that involve Gilbert Chagoury, a foreign national prohibited by federal law from contributing to federal elections, and a Chagoury associate Toufic Joseph Baaklini.

The prosecution announced in court that Chagoury and Baaklini are two of the key witnesses against Fortenberry.

The indictment alleges that, “Fortenberry falsely told investigators that he was not aware of Baaklini ever being involved in illegal campaign contributions, that the individuals who made contributions at the 2016 fundraiser were all publicly disclosed, and that he was not aware of any contributions to his campaign from a foreign national.”

The New York Times reports that Chagoury is a Lebanese Nigerian billionaire who was accused of making illegal campaign contributions “to American politicians in exchange for access to them.”