Ex-Trump aide planning run at California seat vacated by Rep. Hill
George Papadopoulos’ first major political role, serving as an adviser to the Donald Trump campaign in 2016, catapulted him into the center of an international scandal and ultimately landed him in federal prison.
Now a free man living in California, Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to federal agents investigating Russian interf erence i n President
Trump’s election, is planning to make his return to politics — as a candidate for Congress.
His seat of choice?
The one occupied by Rep. Katie Hill, D-Calif., who announced Sunday that she is resigning amid an ethics investigation into allegations that she had been romantically involved with her legislative director. Hill has denied the charge, but admitted to engaging in a consensual threeperson relationship with her nowestranged husband and a member of her campaign staff. The freshman lawmaker, who identifies as bisexual, became embroiled in controversy in October after a conservative news site and British tabloid published nude photos of Hill without her consent.
On Tuesday, Papadopoulos, 32, filed paperwork to run as a Republican in
California’s 25th District and is expected to formally announce his candidacy later this week, Fox News reported. The news was met with backlash from California State Assemblywoman Christy Smith, the lone Democrat in the race for Hill’s seat. Three Republicans are also running, the Associated Press reported.
“If he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI — how do we know he’ll tell us the truth?” Smith tweeted, tagging Papadopoulos. “We deserve someone from our community serving as our voice — not @realDonaldTrump’s wannabe political hack!”
One day before the photos of Hill were published, Papadopoulos tweeted, “California’s 25th congressional district looks like it’s for the taking.”
A remark about Russians and their “dirt” on Hillary Clinton from Papadopoulos to an Australian diplomat at a London bar helped trigger the FBI investigation of Trump’s campaign in July 2016, according to The Post.
Papadopoulos, arrested in 2017, was accused of making false statements to the FBI about his Russia contacts. On Oct. 5, 2017, Papadopoulos admitted to lying, becoming the first Trump official to plead guilty and cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller.
Since his release in December, Papadopoulos wrote a book, “Deep State Target: HowIGotCaught in the Crosshairs of the Plot to Bring Down President Trump.”