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Swalwell: Trump Is a Russian Agent 'Working on Behalf of the Russians'

January 18, 2019

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.) said Friday that he believes President Donald Trump is a Russian agent working on behalf of Moscow.

"Do you believe the president, right now, has been an agent of the Russians?" MSNBC host Chris Matthews asked Swalwell.

"Yes, I think there's more evidence that he is—" Swalwell said.

"Agent?" Matthews interjected

"Yes," Swalwell continued, "and I think all the arrows point in that direction, and I haven't seen a single piece of evidence that he's not."

"An agent like in the 1940s where you had people who were 'reds,' to use an old term, like that? In other words, working for a foreign power?" Matthews asked.

"He's working on behalf of the Russians, yes," Swalwell said.

Later in the segment, Swalwell suggested that Trump might also be working on behalf of other countries, such as Saudi Arabia.

"We should not assume that he is faithful only to Russia. I think there are other countries that he has business dealings with that he would work on behalf of, like the Saudis," Swalwell said.

Swalwell's comments came after BuzzFeed published a report late Thursday claiming that Trump ordered his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Last month, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for crimes including "tax violations, lying to a bank, and, during the 2016 campaign, buying the silence of women who claimed that they once had affairs with the future president."

Special counsel Robert Mueller's office issued a statement disputing BuzzFeed's report.

"BuzzFeed's description of specific statements to the Special Counsel's Office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen's congressional testimony are not accurate," the statement read.