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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 \u2014 and at worst, involved in behavior that might be criminal \u2014 but never went public with that information.<\/p>\n
Local reporter Steven Tavares<\/a>, author of the East Bay Insider, said that he had been covering Swalwell for more than a decade \u2014 beginning when he was just a member of the Dublin City Council \u2014 and that he and others had been well aware of Swalwell\u2019s proclivities for years.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve 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,\u201d Tavares posted<\/a> via X, adding, \u201cDon\u2019t get it twisted. Nobody has been more critical of Swalwell over the years. I tried repeatedly to get the stories out. I can\u2019t force women to speak out, and when they chose not to, I didn\u2019t push. I also knew that Swalwell was known to threaten litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n 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: \u201cAnd at no time did you think \u2018Gee, maybe I should report about this?’\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re giving yourself a lot of undeserved credit with the word \u2018covered\u2019 when you knew this information for at least 13 years (before Swalwell was in Congress!) and never reported it,\u201d Republican commentator Tim Murtaugh added.<\/p>\n And it wasn\u2019t just the local journalists who said they\u2019d long had the dirt on Swalwell \u2014 and somehow none of them had gone public with that information either.<\/p>\n \u201cThis Swalwell situation was \u2026 shall we say widely rumored and it\u2019s interesting that the gossip doesn\u2019t seem to have made its way to all the big shots out west,\u201d Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias<\/a> said.<\/p>\n Progressive activist and commentator Nomiki Konst was also among those claiming to have known years earlier that Swalwell\u2019s behavior was problematic.<\/p>\n \u201cOk 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\u2019t think he remembered me from the first time when he hit me up in DMs,\u201d she posted<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d she continued. \u201cAnd how pathological of him to pressure and allegedly SA subordinates & think he was protected? \u2026 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.\u201d<\/p>\n But Konst also did not say anything until the story blew up.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve all known for years. It\u2019s been an open secret. And I don\u2019t say that as a guess,\u201d Yashar Ali confirmed<\/a>.<\/p>\n Shawn VanDiver, President of AfghanEvac, took a moment to apologize<\/a> to everyone he\u2019d ever introduced to Swalwell, saying in an X post, \u201cThe rumors about him weren\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTranslation: 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,\u201d Matt Van Swol posted in response. \u201cThere\u2019s a word for posting your moral awakening the same weekend a DA opens a criminal investigation. It\u2019s called cowardice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely wild how the Democratic Party covered up for Eric Swalwell for literally decades because it suited their political purposes,\u201d Outkick\u2019s Ian Miller observed.<\/p>\n Since the first accusations<\/a> were reported on Friday, Swalwell has lost numerous endorsements and has faced calls to drop out of the California gubernatorial race \u2014 and some to resign from Congress as well. A letter from the congressman\u2019s senior staff<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Swalwell has denied all of the accusations, calling them \u201cflat false<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n