Former Trump campaign official George Papadopoulos confirmed on Monday during an interview on Fox and Friends that he will run for former representative Katie Hill’s seat in the House.
Hill, a Democrat, was the freshman representative of California’s 25th congressional district, which covers an area north of Los Angeles. The congresswoman was forced to resign after admitting she engaged in a sexual relationship with a campaign staffer, although she denied additional allegations she had a sexual relationship with a different congressional aide.
“I have been living here for over a year and a half, and people every single day, when I go and talk around the districts, the state, the country, they tell me we need a candidate to represent the community that has an American First agenda at heart,” Papadopoulos said in the interview. “I’m running for the 25th Congressional District. I’m here to promote the America First agenda and to enact legislation that has real life consequences for the American people and my constituents.”
Papadopoulos is best known for his role in the Russia collusion investigation into the Trump campaign. The former campaign aid allegedly bragged to Australian intelligence officials in 2016 that the campaign had obtained dirt on then-candidate Hillary Clinton from Russian operatives.
In 2018 Papadopoulos was sentenced to fourteen days in jail for lying to investigators in the subsequent Russia investigation. He denied passing on information from Russian operatives to the Trump campaign.
Cenk Uygur, the founder of leftist news website The Young Turks, has also filed to compete in the race for Hill’s former seat. Uygur was a commentator for MSNBC before leaving to start his website, and has endorsed Vermont senator Bernie Sanders for president.