Tennessee is the next state with a primary this week, and Gov. Bill Lee endorsed against Trump-backed Rep. Andy Ogles, a fellow Republican, ahead of the Thursday election.
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Lee said in a video posted Tuesday night to social media that he was endorsing Charlie Hatcher, Ogles’s Republican challenger who served as Tennessee’s agriculture commissioner.
“Charlie has stood with President Trump from day one,” Lee said, adding that he would “secure the president’s agenda.”
Ogles, a close ally of the president — and for whom President Donald Trump participated in a tele-rally last week — has faced increased scrutiny over campaign finance decisions, among other issues.
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In 2024, the FBI seized Ogles’s cellphone as part of an investigation into a $320,000 loan he reported making to his campaign in 2022. Ogles later said that he only loaned his campaign $20,000. Earlier this year, the Trump administration dropped the investigation.
Ogles has also embellished his education and work credentials, according to reporting by NewsChannel5 and The Washington Post.
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