Democrats thought they'd buried Big Tech's political operations deep enough nobody would find them.
One shocking court filing just blew that wide open.
And Google CEO's mistress made one confession that has Republicans demanding an investigation.
Former Google CEO's ex-girlfriend exposes alleged surveillance scheme
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is facing explosive allegations from his ex-mistress Michelle Ritter that he built a secret "backdoor" into Google's servers allowing him to spy on anyone's private data.
Ritter, 31, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court claiming Schmidt bragged about creating the backdoor with a team of Google engineers while he ran the company.
"During their relationship, Schmidt confided that when he worked at Google, he built an insider 'backdoor' to Google servers with a team of Google engineers in order to spy on Google employees," her court filing stated.¹
Schmidt allegedly had access to any Gmail account or Google Drive user's private information.
Ritter claims Schmidt used this capability against her after their relationship soured, deleting and altering her texts and emails to cover his tracks.
"In 2024, Ritter discovered that her email account, phone, and Google Workspace contained unexplained data manipulation and deletions," according to court documents.²
"On various occasions, Ritter would be using her email account or Google Workspace and saw emails and documents being deleted or altered as if someone else were controlling her keystrokes," the filing added.³
Schmidt's attorney Patricia Glaser called the allegations "false and defamatory."
But Republicans are demanding answers about whether Schmidt used this alleged backdoor to spy on political opponents.
Schmidt's deep ties to Democrat campaigns raise red flags
Schmidt's extensive involvement in Democrat political operations spanning three administrations makes these allegations particularly troubling.
Schmidt played a key role in Barack Obama's successful 2012 campaign, even coaching campaign manager Jim Messina on building the digital infrastructure.
He was photographed in Obama's Chicago "boiler room" with the data team on election night 2012.
For Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, Schmidt co-owned an analytics firm staffed with ex-Obama campaign personnel that Clinton paid over $500,000.
Leaked emails showed Schmidt sending Clinton and aide Cheryl Mills a detailed plan for her 2016 campaign, including advice on headquarters location and hiring.
"If we get started soon, we will be in a very strong position to execute well for 2016," Schmidt wrote to Clinton.⁴
Schmidt's foundation even paid the salaries of two staffers in Biden's White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during 2021.
A 2022 Politico investigation found more than a dozen officials in Biden's 140-person science office were Schmidt associates or his employees.⁵
"Google owes the public immediate answers," said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Joanna Rodriguez.⁶
"If a partisan executive could secretly access user accounts, every campaign, election official, and voter deserves to know whether political communications were ever compromised," Rodriguez stated.⁷
Republicans cite pattern of Google censorship
Republicans have long suspected Google's political activities and censorship of conservative voices.
The Republican National Committee sued Google in 2022, claiming the company deliberately sent millions of GOP campaign emails into users' spam folders, allegedly costing the party an estimated $2 billion in donations since 2019.⁸
In September 2025, Google admitted to the House Judiciary Committee that it had censored content at the Biden administration's request, removing material that didn't violate YouTube's policies.
The company promised to reinstate thousands of previously banned accounts of conservatives censored for political speech.
Senator Roger Marshall led an investigation into Google's censorship of search results about the Trump assassination attempt.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey launched another probe in October 2024 over allegations of censoring conservative speech.
"These allegations confirm Google's leaders were never the neutral referees they claimed to be given their former CEO — a major Democrat donor — allegedly built a backdoor giving himself access to private Google accounts," Rodriguez added.⁹
Trump called out Google multiple times for only showing "bad stories" about him in search results.
He personally contacted Google CEO Sundar Pichai to complain about biased search results.
Schmidt's alleged backdoor scheme combined with his deep Democrat political connections and Google's admitted censorship of conservatives creates a picture Republicans find deeply troubling.
Whether Schmidt used any alleged backdoor access for political purposes remains unknown.
But Republicans want answers about what the former Google CEO had the capability to do and whether he did it.
"The days of Big Tech policing itself are over," Rodriguez said.¹⁰
"It's time for full transparency and accountability."
¹ Josh Boswell, "Mistress's claim that former CEO of Google Eric Schmidt bragged about secret way to snoop on users prompts call for inquiry," Daily Mail, December 2, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ WikiLeaks, "Podesta Emails," 2016.
⁵ Alex Thompson, "The Secret Eric Schmidt," Politico, April 2022.
⁶ Joanna Rodriguez, National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman, quoted in Josh Boswell, Daily Mail, December 2, 2025.
⁷ Ibid.
⁸ "Republican National Committee Targets Google Censorship in Lawsuit," The Heritage Foundation, October 2022.
⁹ Joanna Rodriguez, quoted in Josh Boswell, Daily Mail, December 2, 2025.
¹⁰ Ibid.
