Eric Swalwell Says Democrats Are Going to Target Private Citizens Who Have Worked with Trump

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California told “CNN News Central” co-host Kate Bolduan on Monday that House Democrats plan to go after private citizens working with the Trump administration following the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey.

A federal grand jury indicted Comey on charges of lying to Congress and obstruction of a congressional proceeding on Thursday over testimony given during a September 2020 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Swalwell expressed confidence that Democrats would take control of the House in the 2026 midterm elections.

“Well, first, we are making it clear that we’re going into the majority a year from now,” Swalwell told Bolduan. “We have every intention to do that, and so we will bring oversight, accountability. We will subpoena the Department of Justice, but also private actors who have done these drug deals with the administration — college campuses, entertainment companies, law firms — and so accountability is coming.”

“And so, one, it’s all coming out. Two, I hope that deters people from doing more of these deals, these one-offs with the president,” Swalwell continued. “One other point, though, on Comey, Kate, this happened when Donald Trump was president. So if you’re trying to tell me this is not politically motivated, the statement that they’re referring to where he allegedly lied, Donald Trump was president, so why didn’t you indict him then? The fact that he’s indicting him now just makes it look even more politically motivated, and so I’m pretty confident that this will either be dismissed or Mr. Comey will be acquitted by a jury of his peers.”

CBS settled a $10 billion lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump over the editing of an October 2024 interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who was Trump’s opponent in the 2024 presidential election. ABC paid Trump $15 million to settle a suit Trump filed on Mar. 19, 2024, for defamation over comments made by “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos during a contentious March 10, 2024, appearance by Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina.

Multiple law firms also reached agreements with the Trump administration following orders that curtailed their attorneys’ access to classified information after he accused them of engaging in lawfare against conservatives. In 2022, Kirkland and Ellis ousted former Solicitor General Paul Clement and other attorneys who represented an NRA-backed challenge to “discretionary issue” concealed carry permit laws after they refused to cease Second Amendment litigation.

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