Ex-Donald Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos announced Friday that he will run for Congress in 2020.
The announcement comes a week after Papadopoulos was released from federal prison, where he served 12 days for lying to the FBI.
“It is true. I will be running for Congress in 2020, and I will win. Stay tuned,” Papadopoulos tweeted, confirming an earlier interview with the Daily Telegraph, a London-based publication.
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI after he dissembled about his interactions with foreign officials close to the Russian government. One of his Kremlin-linked contacts told him early in 2016 that the Russians had dirt on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails,” according to court filings.
A federal judge sentenced Papadopoulos to 14 days in prison for lying to the FBI. Papadopoulos had cooperated with the investigation and asked the judge for leniency, while prosecutors sought a six-month prison term. He was released December 7.
In the Telegraph interview, Papadopoulos, who resides in the Los Angeles area, named Orange County as where he hopes to find a congressional seat.
“Now that Los Angeles is home I just have to find a little Republican enclave somewhere in this part of the country and run there,” he said in the interview.
In the 2018 midterm elections, several historically Republican seats in Orange County flipped to the Democrats, making every district blue in a former conservative stronghold that was home to former President Ronald Reagan.
“We all make mistakes,” Papadopoulos said in his interview with the Telegraph. “It’s not the end of the world to forget when you met somebody a year ago. It shouldn’t preclude my future in politics in this country.”
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