A wave of sexual assault accusations against Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) hit on Friday. In the time since, a number in the media and political spheres have claimed that they knew all along that the California congressman was at best, a pest — and at worst, involved in behavior that might be criminal — but never went public with that information.
Local reporter Steven Tavares, author of the East Bay Insider, said that he had been covering Swalwell for more than a decade — beginning when he was just a member of the Dublin City Council — and that he and others had been well aware of Swalwell’s proclivities for years.
“I’ve covered Eric Swalwell since he was a member of the Dublin City Council. Shortly after being elected to Congress in 2013, his behavior towards women was known by all levels of our local government and the Alameda County Democratic Party,” Tavares posted via X, adding, “Don’t get it twisted. Nobody has been more critical of Swalwell over the years. I tried repeatedly to get the stories out. I can’t force women to speak out, and when they chose not to, I didn’t push. I also knew that Swalwell was known to threaten litigation.”
But as critics quickly pointed out, knowing information like that and not reporting it could put young women at risk. Radio host Dana Loesch summed it up: “And at no time did you think ‘Gee, maybe I should report about this?’”
“You’re giving yourself a lot of undeserved credit with the word ‘covered’ when you knew this information for at least 13 years (before Swalwell was in Congress!) and never reported it,” Republican commentator Tim Murtaugh added.
And it wasn’t just the local journalists who said they’d long had the dirt on Swalwell — and somehow none of them had gone public with that information either.
“This Swalwell situation was … shall we say widely rumored and it’s interesting that the gossip doesn’t seem to have made its way to all the big shots out west,” Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias said.
Progressive activist and commentator Nomiki Konst was also among those claiming to have known years earlier that Swalwell’s behavior was problematic.
“Ok just to show how insane this is I was aggressively hit on two separate times by Eric Swalwell (one after a DNC meeting at the hotel in front of a ton of notable folks) and one in my DMs. I don’t think he remembered me from the first time when he hit me up in DMs,” she posted on Saturday.
“I showed disinterest & like many others, heard stories. Which makes me wonder why House leadership (who most certainly knew), continued to protect a member w/out looking into it,” she continued. “And how pathological of him to pressure and allegedly SA subordinates & think he was protected? … I hope the NY AGs office investigates thoroughly and it sends a message to other people in power who sexually abuse and harass to stop and get out of politics. And for other survivors to know they have a voice and power.”
But Konst also did not say anything until the story blew up.
“They’ve all known for years. It’s been an open secret. And I don’t say that as a guess,” Yashar Ali confirmed.
Shawn VanDiver, President of AfghanEvac, took a moment to apologize to everyone he’d ever introduced to Swalwell, saying in an X post, “The rumors about him weren’t new. They had been circulating for a long time, and many people were aware of them. When he asked for my support in the California gubernatorial race, I raised those concerns directly. He unequivocally denied them, dismissing it as Washington rumor mill nonsense and claiming there was no truth behind it. He framed it as behavior from when he was single, without recognizing or acknowledging the underlying power dynamics at play. I took him at his word. That was a mistake and a failure. I should have listened more carefully to the people who warned me. I regret not taking those concerns more seriously, and I regret the role I played in lending him credibility. We all need to do better about who we trust, who we elevate, and when we choose to look the other way.”
“Translation: I knew enough to ask and question him. I got a non-answer. So I chose my political relationship over the women in that orbit,” Matt Van Swol posted in response. “There’s a word for posting your moral awakening the same weekend a DA opens a criminal investigation. It’s called cowardice.”
“Absolutely wild how the Democratic Party covered up for Eric Swalwell for literally decades because it suited their political purposes,” Outkick’s Ian Miller observed.
Since the first accusations were reported on Friday, Swalwell has lost numerous endorsements and has faced calls to drop out of the California gubernatorial race — and some to resign from Congress as well. A letter from the congressman’s senior staff both in his congressional office and his gubernatorial campaign office announced that they were all leaving his employ and advised others to withdraw their support.
Swalwell has denied all of the accusations, calling them “flat false.”
