An Arizona Republican congressional candidate alleges that he has been blackmailed into dropping out of the race in exchange for having Jan. 6, 2021, charges against his son dropped.
Jeff Zink, a Republican candidate in Arizona running for U.S. Congress, is challenging incumbent Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who is running for reelection.
The district they run in includes much of Phoenix and is a Democrat stronghold. Zink said he has been campaigning in Phoenix, reaching out to Democrats and focusing on grassroots people.
Zink’s campaign focuses on community improvements, public safety, education, and freedom, especially defending the 2nd Amendment, according to his campaign website.
The challenged incumbent is a proponent of socialist policies and a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Gallego suggested in a Twitter post in February to seize trucks that formed a convoy near Washington to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates and redistribute the vehicles to other trucking businesses.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus is the most radical and influential coalition in the federal government with extensive ties to several major Marxist organizations, according to Trevor Loudon, an author and filmmaker who researches radical and terrorist groups and their covert influence on politics. Loudon is the host of EpochTV’s “Counterpunch” program.
Blackmail Attempts
Zink recounted that he once received a strange phone call that wasn’t displayed on his phone, but a voice on the other end told him that if he dropped out of the congressional race, the Jan. 6 charges against his son would be dropped.
The metadata on the phone showed that no incoming call was taken in, Zink told EpochTV’s “Crossroads” program in an interview in July.
He said he has received several similar phone calls over the past year and a half. All of them attempted to pressure him to drop out of the race, but Zink said he wouldn’t do it.
By Ella Kietlinska and Joshua Philipp
