Eric Swalwell: Trump Campaign Not Owed Apology for Spying

eric-swalwell- House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Eric Swalwell (Chip Somodevilla :
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Appearing Friday on the Fox News Channel, 2020 Democrat presidential candidate Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) argued the 2016 Trump campaign is not owed an apology for being surveilled by the FBI under the Obama administration.

A partial transcript is as follows:

JULIE BANDERAS: Kellyanne Conway has suggested that the Democrats owe President Trump an apology… Will Democrats apologize?

REP. ERIC SWALWELL: I’ll never apologize for loving our country so much that I don’t think any campaign, transition or president should draw as close to the Russians and welcome their support and never tell law enforcement while they were seeking to support them. I’ll always stand on our side, rather than Russia’s, and I just wish the president would too.

BANDERAS: But do you not believe that there should be an apology when it comes to the spying? And I understand the Democrats don’t like that word coming out of William Barr’s mouth, but the bottom line is if there was spying on a presidential campaign, that is a big deal. And apparently, President Obama knew about the spying. You don’t think that merits an apology?

SWALWELL: No, because I read the first 200 pages of volume one in the Mueller report and it laid out a multiplicity of contacts between the Trump campaign and Russians, and I ask if all this happens again in the 2020 campaign, do we believe our intelligence community should do nothing or say we’re just going to allow campaigns to work with foreign adversaries? They had a right to investigate.

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