Is it Swal-over for Swalwell? Congressman Eric Swalwell – the longtime anti-Trump crusader, MS Now and CNN mainstay, and a leading candidate in the California gubernatorial race – has now been accused by an anonymous ex-staffer of sexual assault. The allegations, published by the San Francisco Chronicle, turn mainly on inebriation and the so-called power imbalance between the two:
Driving him to another event weeks later, she said Swalwell pulled out his penis in the car and asked her to perform oral sex on him. She said she did so in a parking lot.
In September 2019, the woman said, Swalwell invited her out for drinks and she became so severely intoxicated that she does not remember the rest of the night. She said she woke up naked in Swalwell’s hotel bed and could feel the effect of vaginal intercourse. She said Swalwell distanced himself from her afterward and the relationship faded.
The accuser has chosen to remain anonymous and has not announced any intention to press charges. Three other women have since told CNN that the congressman had sent them unsolicited lewd messages and nude pictures.
Swalwell has denied the accusations. “They are absolutely false. They did not happen. They have never happened,” he said in a statement. Though, oddly enough, the Congressman also chose to apologize to his wife for unspecified past mistakes: “I do not suggest to you in any way that I’m perfect or that I’m a saint. I have certainly made mistakes in judgment in my past. But those mistakes are between me and my wife, and to her I apologize deeply for putting her in this position.”
The reaction from the party has been swift. Senator Adam Schiff – a key ally – has called for Swalwell to end his campaign and has said that he regrets endorsing him. So has Hakeem Jeffries. Swalwell’s Democratic rival for the nomination Katie Porter – best known for dressing up as Batgirl to the House vote on Trump’s impeachment in 2019 and for scalding his now-ex-husband with boiling potatoes – posted on X that: “The allegations against Congressman Swalwell are horrifying. I’m thinking of the courageous women who have come forward to share their stories. We believe you and we stand with you.”
Nancy Pelosi, still an eminence grise within her party, said allusively that “it is clear that [the investigation into these accusations] is best done outside of a gubernatorial campaign.”
The events of the last 24 hours have chiefly served to benefit another candidate for the office: the slightly guileless figure of Tom Steyer (remember him?) a billionaire who sought the Democratic presidential nomination back in 2020. Steyer’s odds of winning the race have rocketed to 52 percent, according to the betting website Kalshi.
California’s “jungle primary” format was always going to make the search for Gavin Newsom’s replacement a wild ride. Candidates of all parties run against each other to reach a two-person runoff round. Given that the Democratic field was so crowded with candidates, this meant that there was briefly a prospect of the two finalists for the governor’s mansion both being GOP candidates – Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton (who The Spectator has profiled).
Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican, has announced that she is going to table a motion to expel Swalwell from the House. Luna also supports the ongoing initiative to expel her GOP colleague Tony Gonzales, who is the subject of a House investigation over accusations of sexual misconduct. Such a measure requires a two thirds majority to pass, but in any case Swalwell’s candidacy is effectively over.
A sudden and brutal end to Swalwell’s career, then. Can he complain about the manner of his fall? Swalwell has spoken out against any reform to Title IX, a provision of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 that has seen male students at colleges expelled due to accusations of sexual impropriety with almost no due process. Live by the sword…
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