“After Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) was indicted last week for lying to the FBI over foreign donations to his campaign, authorities took the rare step Thursday of trying to prevent the nine-term Republican from tampering with witnesses or handling evidence without supervision. The order, handed down by Judge Stanley Blumenfield in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, also reveals that the government is pursuing multiple related investigations involving other ‘public officials.’ In the ruling, Blumenfield sided with the prosecution’s concerns that Fortenberry cannot be trusted to handle evidence about cooperating witnesses. The order prohibits Fortenberry from taking notes or ‘memorializing’ the evidence, and even requires his lawyers to ensure he is ‘never left alone with any Cooperator Materials.'”

“‘Defendant may not take any Cooperator Materials out of the room in which defendant is meeting with the Defense Team. At no time, under no circumstance, will any Cooperator Materials be left in the possession, custody, or control of defendant, regardless of defendant’s custody status. Because these materials could be used to identify the confidential informants or cooperating witnesses, the Court finds that the unauthorized dissemination or distribution of the materials may compromise the ability of such persons to participate effectively in future investigations in an undercover capacity and/or may expose him/her to potential safety risks'” – Daily Beast.