Eric Swalwell resigned from the House, but didn't take full responsibility for his behavior, and also played the victim on the prospect of an expulsion vote from the House.
He says he didn't do anything wrong, so I'm a bit confused. What responsibility should he take for behavior he says he didn't do? But I'm glad he did resign to spare the country, the state and the party from a godawful circus.
I’m reminded of the resignation of Senator Al Franken when accused of inappropriate sexual behavior. Similarly, he resigned shortly after the accusation. Eric Swalwell, like Franken, didn’t deny or challenge the charges. I can’t help but wonder why he is being pilloried, as was Franken, when our Republican friends fought such accusations with a ferocity, and until the end, proclaimed innocence. I make no judgment about either man’s innocence or guilt. I can think only of the behavior we have been forced to accept when there’s a huge “R” on the forehead instead of a “D”.
I am really blindsided by this. He's been a good Rep, and every time I've heard him on a talk show, he's home with his little kids & seemed very natural and dedicated to his wife & family... I see Kevin McCarthy dumped on him, lumping him in with Matt Gaetz, but McCarthy hates Gaetz & may just have a grudge with Swalwell over J6 and sees a chance to stick it... I saw somewhere that Roger Stone is involved, and that the main accuser is a " former" MAGA influencer so I guess we'll have to sit this out and see what shakes out. It's good that he quit -
I’m probably gonna get a lot of pushback from this. I know that women, myself included, have been victims of sexual abuse by men since the dawn of human civilization. The men have almost always gotten away with it. And most women don’t make these accusations lightly. But when the circumstances are “he said she said” at least at first, I guess I wonder why sexual assault is the only crime in which men are guilty unless proven innocent. I do think he should stop his run for Governor, because he’s under investigation for a serious crime, and he’s become a distraction. I think he should be investigated by the House regarding the crimes he’s been accused of and be allowed to defend himself before losing his seat. The pendulum has swung so far in favor of accusers these days that little proof is needed before publicly accusing someone of sexual assault. After all, this woman did stay as an employee and possibly in a relationship with him for several years, and then became involved with him again, apparently. So it’s not as cut and dried as it appears. It’s definitely an imbalance of power and he made, at the very least, a terrible error in judgment by getting involved with her for a multitude of reasons. I dunno, I still think we’re tarring and feathering the guy before he’s had a chance to defend himself. Y’all keep saying “alleged”, but the truth is that everyone has decided 💯 that he’s guilty of rape. I think the truth may be a little less black and white. Either way, he’s likely a scumbag for engaging in a relationship with a staffer. But that doesn’t mean he raped her. What if they were both completely shitfaced and had sex? Women want to be treated as equals, rightly so, but we want to be protected in a way that men are not when it comes to these situations. I happen to know a couple of men who were falsely accused of rape, and the only way they were able to prove it was because the women admitted they had lied for various reasons. Don’t equate this with women being encouraged to shut up for fear of wrecking some spoiled rich preppy guy’s future. There are very occasional circumstances where women do lie or mislead about particular accusations for whatever reason, Not often, but it happens. It’s almost considered blasphemous to say so. And the statistics that say that women rarely lie about sexual assault only count as a lie situations where the women admitted the lie or were somehow proven to be lying. It’s notoriously hard to prove you didn’t do something like a sexual assault, that the woman was a willing participant, or that it never happened. Those cases never are counted. I say let the guy be brought up on charges and have him go through a trial. It is, after all, a crime she’s accusing him of. If he’s found guilty he would obviously have to resign. Unless there’s a tremendous amount of evidence, or he admits that he did it, I’m not sure he should resign. In the meantime, if he’s found guilty loses his seat in the midterms that’s fair. Whatever happened, he definitely fell short of his oath of office and I actually wouldn’t vote for him given that he clearly, at the very least, made some terrible decisions.
Let’s not forget that Dump hates Swalwell and sicced his corrupt DOJ on him with bogus mortgage fraud charges last November (same charges as Leticia James and Adam Schiff). Guilty or not, this all stinks.
Why are you being so hard on a Democrat!.. No one is hard on Trump and he came back people knowing what he did !.. he got convicted of RAP it was proven in court and he still ended up being President!.. the Republicans can just get away with everything..😡😡no questions asked!!
Doing a fact check of all the allegations against Eric Swalwell over his 16 year career as a public servant: one woman has accused him of sexual assault, one woman has accused him of unwanted physical contact/inappropriate touching, and two women have accused him of unsolicited explicit messaging (nude photos, explicit videos, graphic messages).
Yes, take all allegations seriously. But I am withholding judgment until this is fully investigated. Swalwell appears to have been proven guilty by the court of public opinion. If the same standards were applied to a place of employment, any man could be fired by allegations of misconduct without further questions.
Definitely don’t condone the behavior, but he has shown better character than Trump and his Admin. Let’s ask Trump why he doesn’t resign like is expected.
Wow what ever happened to innocent until proven guilty? all accusations, he hasn't been arrested and if she was raped in 2019 why hook up with him again in 2024. Cheated on his wife yes but the president has does worse. Time will tell his story...I prefer the wait and see route. Oh and if you are going on CNN to accuse a sitting rep of sexual abuse show your face!
I've been wondering if it's a political hitjob/setup too because trump fears Swalwell ... but it's so difficult because so many women would choose the bear over the man because they have been sexually abused/assaulted/etc ... I can't help but wonder if part of it too is the fact that we're supposed to be better than Rs and we know that MAGA doesn't care how vile their elected officials are, including rape/pedophilia/corruption/etc and we're supposed to be better than that, so something like this was bound to have so many ppl say he has to go, otherwise we know what we'll hear from the right, they're straight on hypocrites ... always have been, always will be. I remember when that woman tried to accuse Biden of such things (inappropriate touching and such) and came out she was lying ... and then he's also from a generation that would put their hand on a woman's shoulder or back and think nothing of it and not mean it in a sexual way but with so much assault and abuse women have gone through for generations, it's turned into any little thing that doesn't mean anything to one person can turn into something bad and possibly job loseability ... we seem to have gone from one extreme to another. If you get touched on the shoulder and feel uncomfortable and you tell the person and they continue, I can see that as an issue. Anyway, I felt strange vibes from him when I went to a local town hall he put on a little while back where I live ... not that kind of strange vibe, but still one that didn't feel comfortable to me. Anyway, we still have some good Dems running for governor of CA, we just have to make sure we get at least one of them on the ballot and get someone in his seat in congress. I'm not saying anyone has lied about him where this is concerned, but ppl have had their reputations tarnished for good because of lies spread about them and false accusations. It's a damn shame we live in a world where you can't trust what ppl tell you and you really can't trust anything coming from the right (and I wouldn't put it past them to pay someone to lie ... I still remember when Pete was one of those trying to get the pick as the Dem Presidential candidate how it came out that someone from the right tried to pay someone to say they were sexually assaulted by Pete ... so yeah, I don't put anything past the right).
Related: Under threat of expulsion, TX Congressman Gonzales is also finally resigning. Let's hope this trend continues, across parties and at all levels.
Democrats always force resignation on claims like this. The accused may be innocent of charges but they need independence to work their investigations.
The important work of the Democrats in congress isn’t stopping and should not be hampered.
I read somewhere the Republicans were planning to use this as a loaded gun in Oct so its better in came out sooner rather than later. If that is the case we owe a debt of gratitude to these women for coming forward when they did
This is possible, but as a Californian, I am fretting about our June 2 primary. In the governor’s race, the top two vote-getters advance to the November election. Swalwell was leading in recent polling, followed closely by the two Republicans. The remaining Democrats (Tom Steyer, Katie Porter, Javier Becerra and a few others) were trailing. Now that Swalwell has dropped out, we may end up with two Republicans on the November ballot: Steve Hilton (Trump-endorsed former Faux News host) and Chad Bianco (lunatic Riverside County sheriff). Talk about a nightmare scenario for the Golden State!
Believe me, that's my worry too ... if that happens, CA is going to be destroyed as they let trump do anything he wants to CA because trump hates CA ... probably not more than we hate him.
Good one. Still can’t forgive her railroading Franken. She needs to be voted out and he needs to run again. He was an intelligent, thoughtful, rational and effective senator.
Trump was accused of sexual assault by 29 women and actually convicted of sexual assault in a court of law. Why is he not also being asked to step down too?
he has been, he doesn't care ... the Rs aren't going to ask him to or make him because he's doing everything they want and he's not going to step down because his corruption in the WH is making him billions of dollars and keeping him out of prison. so, asking him to step down won't accomplish anything, the vile shits on the right never should have voted for him as it is and J6 should have kept him from even being able to run again ... shows you how broken our country is
Dems need to distance themselves from odious behavior, period. He has no “right” to be in Congress; it’s up 🔝 to his constituents in the East Bay. Optics matter.
He says he didn't do anything wrong, so I'm a bit confused. What responsibility should he take for behavior he says he didn't do? But I'm glad he did resign to spare the country, the state and the party from a godawful circus.
I’m reminded of the resignation of Senator Al Franken when accused of inappropriate sexual behavior. Similarly, he resigned shortly after the accusation. Eric Swalwell, like Franken, didn’t deny or challenge the charges. I can’t help but wonder why he is being pilloried, as was Franken, when our Republican friends fought such accusations with a ferocity, and until the end, proclaimed innocence. I make no judgment about either man’s innocence or guilt. I can think only of the behavior we have been forced to accept when there’s a huge “R” on the forehead instead of a “D”.
He did not resign, he was forced to without any desire for due process of any kind.
I am really blindsided by this. He's been a good Rep, and every time I've heard him on a talk show, he's home with his little kids & seemed very natural and dedicated to his wife & family... I see Kevin McCarthy dumped on him, lumping him in with Matt Gaetz, but McCarthy hates Gaetz & may just have a grudge with Swalwell over J6 and sees a chance to stick it... I saw somewhere that Roger Stone is involved, and that the main accuser is a " former" MAGA influencer so I guess we'll have to sit this out and see what shakes out. It's good that he quit -
I’m probably gonna get a lot of pushback from this. I know that women, myself included, have been victims of sexual abuse by men since the dawn of human civilization. The men have almost always gotten away with it. And most women don’t make these accusations lightly. But when the circumstances are “he said she said” at least at first, I guess I wonder why sexual assault is the only crime in which men are guilty unless proven innocent. I do think he should stop his run for Governor, because he’s under investigation for a serious crime, and he’s become a distraction. I think he should be investigated by the House regarding the crimes he’s been accused of and be allowed to defend himself before losing his seat. The pendulum has swung so far in favor of accusers these days that little proof is needed before publicly accusing someone of sexual assault. After all, this woman did stay as an employee and possibly in a relationship with him for several years, and then became involved with him again, apparently. So it’s not as cut and dried as it appears. It’s definitely an imbalance of power and he made, at the very least, a terrible error in judgment by getting involved with her for a multitude of reasons. I dunno, I still think we’re tarring and feathering the guy before he’s had a chance to defend himself. Y’all keep saying “alleged”, but the truth is that everyone has decided 💯 that he’s guilty of rape. I think the truth may be a little less black and white. Either way, he’s likely a scumbag for engaging in a relationship with a staffer. But that doesn’t mean he raped her. What if they were both completely shitfaced and had sex? Women want to be treated as equals, rightly so, but we want to be protected in a way that men are not when it comes to these situations. I happen to know a couple of men who were falsely accused of rape, and the only way they were able to prove it was because the women admitted they had lied for various reasons. Don’t equate this with women being encouraged to shut up for fear of wrecking some spoiled rich preppy guy’s future. There are very occasional circumstances where women do lie or mislead about particular accusations for whatever reason, Not often, but it happens. It’s almost considered blasphemous to say so. And the statistics that say that women rarely lie about sexual assault only count as a lie situations where the women admitted the lie or were somehow proven to be lying. It’s notoriously hard to prove you didn’t do something like a sexual assault, that the woman was a willing participant, or that it never happened. Those cases never are counted. I say let the guy be brought up on charges and have him go through a trial. It is, after all, a crime she’s accusing him of. If he’s found guilty he would obviously have to resign. Unless there’s a tremendous amount of evidence, or he admits that he did it, I’m not sure he should resign. In the meantime, if he’s found guilty loses his seat in the midterms that’s fair. Whatever happened, he definitely fell short of his oath of office and I actually wouldn’t vote for him given that he clearly, at the very least, made some terrible decisions.
Spot on, sister Kit. Thank you. 🌹
All I hear is accusations. There has been no proof of any of the charges at this point.
It looks like a political hit job at this point without any evidence.
Let’s not forget that Dump hates Swalwell and sicced his corrupt DOJ on him with bogus mortgage fraud charges last November (same charges as Leticia James and Adam Schiff). Guilty or not, this all stinks.
Why are you being so hard on a Democrat!.. No one is hard on Trump and he came back people knowing what he did !.. he got convicted of RAP it was proven in court and he still ended up being President!.. the Republicans can just get away with everything..😡😡no questions asked!!
Doing a fact check of all the allegations against Eric Swalwell over his 16 year career as a public servant: one woman has accused him of sexual assault, one woman has accused him of unwanted physical contact/inappropriate touching, and two women have accused him of unsolicited explicit messaging (nude photos, explicit videos, graphic messages).
Yes, take all allegations seriously. But I am withholding judgment until this is fully investigated. Swalwell appears to have been proven guilty by the court of public opinion. If the same standards were applied to a place of employment, any man could be fired by allegations of misconduct without further questions.
Definitely don’t condone the behavior, but he has shown better character than Trump and his Admin. Let’s ask Trump why he doesn’t resign like is expected.
Wow what ever happened to innocent until proven guilty? all accusations, he hasn't been arrested and if she was raped in 2019 why hook up with him again in 2024. Cheated on his wife yes but the president has does worse. Time will tell his story...I prefer the wait and see route. Oh and if you are going on CNN to accuse a sitting rep of sexual abuse show your face!
I've been wondering if it's a political hitjob/setup too because trump fears Swalwell ... but it's so difficult because so many women would choose the bear over the man because they have been sexually abused/assaulted/etc ... I can't help but wonder if part of it too is the fact that we're supposed to be better than Rs and we know that MAGA doesn't care how vile their elected officials are, including rape/pedophilia/corruption/etc and we're supposed to be better than that, so something like this was bound to have so many ppl say he has to go, otherwise we know what we'll hear from the right, they're straight on hypocrites ... always have been, always will be. I remember when that woman tried to accuse Biden of such things (inappropriate touching and such) and came out she was lying ... and then he's also from a generation that would put their hand on a woman's shoulder or back and think nothing of it and not mean it in a sexual way but with so much assault and abuse women have gone through for generations, it's turned into any little thing that doesn't mean anything to one person can turn into something bad and possibly job loseability ... we seem to have gone from one extreme to another. If you get touched on the shoulder and feel uncomfortable and you tell the person and they continue, I can see that as an issue. Anyway, I felt strange vibes from him when I went to a local town hall he put on a little while back where I live ... not that kind of strange vibe, but still one that didn't feel comfortable to me. Anyway, we still have some good Dems running for governor of CA, we just have to make sure we get at least one of them on the ballot and get someone in his seat in congress. I'm not saying anyone has lied about him where this is concerned, but ppl have had their reputations tarnished for good because of lies spread about them and false accusations. It's a damn shame we live in a world where you can't trust what ppl tell you and you really can't trust anything coming from the right (and I wouldn't put it past them to pay someone to lie ... I still remember when Pete was one of those trying to get the pick as the Dem Presidential candidate how it came out that someone from the right tried to pay someone to say they were sexually assaulted by Pete ... so yeah, I don't put anything past the right).
Related: Under threat of expulsion, TX Congressman Gonzales is also finally resigning. Let's hope this trend continues, across parties and at all levels.
Democrats always force resignation on claims like this. The accused may be innocent of charges but they need independence to work their investigations.
The important work of the Democrats in congress isn’t stopping and should not be hampered.
I read somewhere the Republicans were planning to use this as a loaded gun in Oct so its better in came out sooner rather than later. If that is the case we owe a debt of gratitude to these women for coming forward when they did
This is possible, but as a Californian, I am fretting about our June 2 primary. In the governor’s race, the top two vote-getters advance to the November election. Swalwell was leading in recent polling, followed closely by the two Republicans. The remaining Democrats (Tom Steyer, Katie Porter, Javier Becerra and a few others) were trailing. Now that Swalwell has dropped out, we may end up with two Republicans on the November ballot: Steve Hilton (Trump-endorsed former Faux News host) and Chad Bianco (lunatic Riverside County sheriff). Talk about a nightmare scenario for the Golden State!
Don’t talk dirty. I am pulling for Porter to be the candidate.
Believe me, that's my worry too ... if that happens, CA is going to be destroyed as they let trump do anything he wants to CA because trump hates CA ... probably not more than we hate him.
yes it is terrifying. interesting though the CA GOP hasnt endorsed either republican candidate... both are freaks IMO
Let me guess…gillebrand is leading the chart again on this one???
Good one. Still can’t forgive her railroading Franken. She needs to be voted out and he needs to run again. He was an intelligent, thoughtful, rational and effective senator.
Trump was accused of sexual assault by 29 women and actually convicted of sexual assault in a court of law. Why is he not also being asked to step down too?
he has been, he doesn't care ... the Rs aren't going to ask him to or make him because he's doing everything they want and he's not going to step down because his corruption in the WH is making him billions of dollars and keeping him out of prison. so, asking him to step down won't accomplish anything, the vile shits on the right never should have voted for him as it is and J6 should have kept him from even being able to run again ... shows you how broken our country is
Dems need to distance themselves from odious behavior, period. He has no “right” to be in Congress; it’s up 🔝 to his constituents in the East Bay. Optics matter.
This “lack of character” beating of your chest is bullshit. Get off your hypocritical soapbox.