An appeals court has tossed out a conviction against a Republican lawmaker who was found guilty of lying to the Biden regime's politicized FBI. 

Jeff Fortenberry, a former congressman from Nebraska, was forced out of his position after he was convicted of lying about an illegal campaign donation.

The feds never claimed that Fortenberry knew the donation was illegal when he accepted it in 2016.

But prosecutors said Fortenberry became aware the donation was illegal after he was warned about it by an FBI informant - and then proceeded to lie about what he "knew."

Did FBI set up Republican?

Fortenberry's attorneys said the "crime" was a set up, and they noted large chronological gaps in the case to raise doubt about Fortenberry's knowledge.

The story begins in 2016, when Fortenberry received a $30,000 donation to support Christians being persecuted in the Middle East. The donation came from a Nigerian Lebanese billionaire, Gilbert Chagoury, through straw donors in Los Angeles.

Fast forward to 2018, Fortenberry received a phone call from the fundraiser's organizer, Dr. Elias Ayoub.

Unbeknownst to Fortenberry, Ayoub was an FBI informant. He told Fortenberry about Chagoury, which allowed prosecutors to say Fortenberry lied during two subsequent FBI interviews where he denied receiving an illegal donation.

Those interviews happened months after Fortenberry was "warned."

Fortenberry's lawyers said he was set up - and the so-called crime would not have existed without the FBI getting involved in the first place.

Conviction tossed out

Fortenberry vowed to fight the conviction when the verdict was read in March 2022. An appellate court has since ruled that the conviction was erroneous  because Fortenberry was tried in a jurisdiction where he was not accused of any wrongdoing.

He was tried in Los Angeles, where the FBI agents worked, rather than Nebraska or Washington D.C., where his FBI interviews took place. "Outlandish" was the word the court used for the verdict.

“Fortenberry’s convictions are reversed so that he may be retried, if at all, in a proper venue,” the decision said.

It's a rare example of accountability for the overzealous, politicized prosecutions of the Biden regime.

“We are gratified by the Ninth Circuit’s decision,” Jeff Fortenberry said in a statement. “Celeste and I would like to thank everyone who has stood by us and supported us with their kindness and friendship.”

But prosecutors aren't letting this one go. They said they are "evaluating potential next steps before deciding how best to move forward.”