Representative Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, has announced he will resign from Congress following allegations that he sexually assaulted a former staffer and made other unwanted sexual advances toward women.
Swalwell, who has fiercely denied the allegations, wrote in a statement Monday that he was aware of efforts to bring an immediate expulsion vote against him.
“Expelling anyone in Congress without due process, within days of an allegation being made, is wrong. But it’s also wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties. Therefore, I plan to resign my seat in Congress,” he said.
Swalwell apologized to his family, staff, and constituents for his past “mistakes in judgment,” but insisted the allegations of sexual misconduct, including the rape of a former staffer, are “false.”
A woman who was in her twenties when she was hired to work in Swalwell’s Castro Valley office in 2019, accused the married congressman of sexually assaulting her twice when she was heavily intoxicated, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.
One of the alleged incidents happened in 2024, a few years after the woman stopped working for Swalwell.
After getting drinks with Swalwell following an awards ceremony in New York, she got so intoxicated that she only remembers flashes of the rest of the night. She alleged Swalwell forced himself on her in a hotel room.
“I woke up once during it and even told him to stop at one point,” the woman wrote to a friend after the incident in a text message reviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle.
She told the publication that she had vaginal bleeding and bruises the next morning.
CNN reported claims later Friday from a total of four women who have accused Swalwell of sexual misconduct from when they were in their twenties, including sending unprompted nude photos on Snapchat.
The account of one of the women cited in CNN’s reporting resembles that of the woman who spoke to The Chronicle, but The Independent was not able to verify if they are the same source.
The allegations against Swalwell upended his gubernatorial campaign in California, where he was the frontrunner.
Several of his fellow Democrats, including California Senator Adam Schiff and Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego, dropped their support for Swalwell.
House Democratic leadership called for a swift investigation into the allegations and for Swalwell to drop his bid for governor.
This is a developing story…
