Rep. Eric Swalwell resigns from Congress amid Chronicle misconduct report | Fox News
By: Leo Briceno (Fox News)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley discusses the House Ethics Committee's investigation into former California gubernatorial candidate Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., on 'America Reports.'
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., announced he would resign his congressional seat on Monday on the heels of multiple bombshell reports last Friday that forced him to drop out of a bid to become the next governor of California.
"I am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment I've made in my past," Swalwell said in a statement. "I will fight the serious, false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make."
"I am aware of efforts to bring an immediate expulsion vote against me and other members. Expelling anyone in Congress without due process, within days of an allegation being made, is wrong," he continued. "But it's also wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties. Therefore, I plan to resign my seat in Congress."
While Democrats fell short of calling on Swalwell to resign his seat, the Chronicle's scathing reporting left a wave of Swalwell's colleagues rescinding their support for his campaign — including former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Pelosi urged that consideration of the accusations against Swalwell take place outside of the context of his campaign.
"The young woman who has made serious allegations against Congressman Swalwell must be respected and heard. This extremely sensitive matter must be appropriately investigated with full transparency and accountability. As I discussed with Congressman Swalwell, it is clear that this is best done outside of a gubernatorial campaign," Pelosi said in statements given to NBC.
A number of other Democrats soon joined the former speaker's calls, with a handful rescinding previous endorsements of the campaign.
"I've read the San Francisco Chronicle's reporting, and I take it seriously," Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said in a post to X.
"What is described is indefensible. Women who come forward with accounts like this deserve to be heard with respect, not questioned or dismissed," he added.
Swalwell first became a member of the House of Representatives in 2013. Before his time in Congress, Swalwell served as a prosecutor in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office before becoming a city councilmember in Dublin, California, in 2010.
As a member of the House, Swalwell helped spearhead impeachment efforts against President Donald Trump in 2019 and, before that, led inquiries on whether Russian interference had meaningfully impacted the 2016 presidential election.
It's unclear if Swalwell's resignation marks an end to his political career.
In its Friday report, the San Francisco Chronicle detailed graphic accounts from a woman accusing Swalwell of pursuing intoxicated women, pressuring employees into intimate situations and asking for explicit images from female contacts.
Rumblings of misconduct from Swalwell first emerged earlier this month when Cheyenne Hunt, a former Capitol Hill staffer and a political media personality, began circulating testimony from women who said they had been sexually assaulted by the congressman.
"The Democratic candidate currently leading in the California governor's race has a known history of being predatory towards women," Hunt claimed in a post to social media.
Despite initially remaining moot on the allegations, Swalwell's office broke its silence on the matter in comments made to the New York Post earlier this week.
"This false, outrageous rumor is being spread 27 days before an election begins by flailing opponents who have sadly teamed up with MAGA conspiracy theorists because they know Eric Swalwell is the frontrunner in this race," Micah Beasley, a spokesperson for Swalwell, said.
Swalwell's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.
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Now he can register as a lobbyist and work directly for the Chinese instead of just hiring their spies to work for him.
Hot seat...Reuben Gallego.
I think the list of those that dipped into the Congress slush fund to pay off accusers of various activities needs to be released.
Don't discriminate between who is mentioned and who gets to slide.
Pretty sure the democrat class will heavily shadow the republican one.
Yeah. It's taxpayer money. Should absolutely be public.
[✘] When this news broke, Swalwell’s support evaporated. And now today, he has resigned from Congress. That took three days. You have known about Trump for over a decade.
The man who slept with chinese spies "leading" inquiries into a hoax is fkng hilarious. It's funny that the left thought that he was in any position to look into anything.