{"id":47769,"date":"2026-04-11T16:28:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T16:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=47769"},"modified":"2026-04-11T16:28:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T16:28:28","slug":"eric-shouldnt-have-raped-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=47769","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Eric Shouldn&#8217;t Have Raped Me&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), the leading Democrat gubernatorial candidate for California, has been accused of rape by a former staffer and varying forms of sexual misconduct by three other women. Swalwell has denied all claims of assault, though he acknowledged he has made \u201cmistakes\u201d that he has to work through with his wife.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a9d-pre\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A preview to the allegations was released on X by one-time congressional candidate Cheyenne Hunt on Sunday, who reported that she had been in contact with multiple women who were planning on \u201ccoming forward and sharing their stories of sexual harassment and even alleged abuse at the hands of Eric Swalwell.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a9d\"\/>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a9d\"\/>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"\/>\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/t\/assets\/html\/tweet-5.html#2041016223786504297\" data-btlnk=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CheyenneHuntCA\/status\/2041016223786504297\" class=\"bnn-if-tweet\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"260\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In her thread, Hunt wrote that the first alleged victim of Swalwell\u2019s who approached her is a \u201cclose friend\u201d of hers, but that she had since spoken to others whose alleged experiences with the congressman \u201cfit the same pattern of manipulation and abuse of power.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other Democrats backed Hunt up online, with campaign advisor Bri Gillis claiming that \u201canyone who has been in DC for five minutes knows this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/t\/assets\/html\/tweet-5.html#2041489422345011639\" data-btlnk=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Bgilly13\/status\/2041489422345011639\" class=\"bnn-if-tweet\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"260\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s actually wild it took this long,\u201d Gillis added.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"a9d-pre\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bhavik Lathia, a former staffer of both Kamala Harris\u2019s and Bernie Sanders\u2019 presidential campaigns, said he confirmed with a \u201ctrusted friend\u201d that the allegations are \u201creal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a9d\"\/>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a9d\"\/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cTake it seriously. Eric Swallwell [<em>sic<\/em>] cannot be our nominee. There is going to be a lot more coming out soon,\u201d Lathia wrote.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/t\/assets\/html\/tweet-5.html#2041012931534692413\" data-btlnk=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bhaviklathia\/status\/2041012931534692413\" class=\"bnn-if-tweet\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"260\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Specifics of the allegations finally <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/04\/10\/us\/eric-swalwell-sexual-misconduct-allegations-invs\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">came out<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on CNN on Friday, with four women giving accounts of their experiences with the married governor hopeful.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI was pushing him off of me, saying no,\u201d a former staffer of Swalwell\u2019s said of an alleged 2024 incident after she had stopped working in his office. \u201cHe didn\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the anonymous woman, Swalwell had made nonconsensual sexual contact with her on a previous occasion in 2019 when she was still working for him. Both times, she was drunk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI always felt like if I came forward, I was going to suffer the consequences because he was so powerful,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve lived in fear every single day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"a9d-pre\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After Swalwell ended his presidential campaign in July 2019, the staffer got a job in his district office before she said the two began communicating via Snapchat, where he allegedly sexted her and sent explicit photos of his genitals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a9d adSo\"\/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHe also asked her to send him photos of herself, including nude photos, which she did,\u201d CNN reported. \u201cShe said she found the attention flattering, but also felt nervous because he was her boss.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThere was Eric the Snapchatting guy, and then there was Eric my boss,\u201d the former staffer said. \u201cIt was like two different people completely.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Later that year, she said Swalwell asked her to perform oral sex on him while they were in a parked car \u2014 a request she said she briefly complied with.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In September of that year, she said she was alone with him at a bar in his congressional district when she became quite intoxicated. She said she remembered getting in a rideshare car, before walking up naked in bed with him in his hotel the next day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI know that there was sexual contact because when I woke up in the morning, I could feel that there was,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"a9d-pre\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Swalwell allegedly told her that \u201clast night was great\u201d but she should leave. The staffer said she was treated coldly by him for the rest of the day, before he messaged her on Snapchat to tell her that he enjoyed the sexual encounter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a9d adSo\"\/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI said to him, \u2018I really don\u2019t remember it at all,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cAnd he was like, \u2018Well, next time, we have to make sure you remember it.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The staffer later transferred to his Washington, D.C. office before leaving to a different job, but kept in sparing contact with the congressman.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Swalwell spoke at a New York gala that she was also attending in 2024, the woman said he asked her to meet for drinks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When he arrived by car to pick her up, she said he put his hand on her leg.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI said, \u2018No funny business, like, that\u2019s not what this is,\u2019\u201d she recounted. \u201cAnd he was like, \u2018Okay, okay.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After drinking with Swalwell, she said the next thing she remembered was Swalwell on top of her in a hotel room.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She recalled him having sex with her while she tried \u201cpushing him off\u201d and telling him to stop to no avail.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The former staffer said she woke alone in the room the next morning \u201ccompletely confused,\u201d and took a cab to her own hotel, where she called her mother. Her mother confirmed her account to CNN.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cMy vagina was bleeding the next day after the sex, I had cuts and bruises on my body,\u201d the former staffer said. When she looked in the mirror later, \u201cI could see the bruises of where his hand had been on my rib cage and on my legs and near my thighs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other sources reviewed by CNN, including the woman\u2019s partner, friends, and a screenshot of an STD test she took the next day, also corroborated her story.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She stated that Swalwell acknowledged the sex in a Snapchat message, telling her not to tell anybody.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI kept figuring out ways to blame myself: I shouldn\u2019t have reached out to him at all, I should have left, I should have done this,\u201d she said, explaining why she did not report the alleged assaults to police.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWell, Eric shouldn\u2019t have raped me,\u201d she added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another anonymous woman who said she met Swalwell in Spring 2025 after the two connected on Instagram said she, too, left his hotel room after a night of drinking with him left her with a \u201cblur\u201d of fuzzy memories.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She said she told Swalwell that she felt \u201creally disgusted and ashamed\u201d about what happened, though the two remained in contact. In December, a month after he launched his gubernatorial bid, she sent him a lengthy message saying, \u201call you did was harm me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI won\u2019t bother you again!\u201d the candidate replied. \u201cSorry.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They still stayed in contact for a period of time after that, in what she compared to Stockholm syndrome.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI suffered a lot in silence\u2026 I had no desire to ever come after him or ever come out saying something,\u201d she told CNN, explaining that Swalwell \u201cused my vulnerabilities and the fact that I looked up to him to be able to get something from it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two more women, including social media influencer Ally Sammarco, accused the congressman of sending them unsolicited nude photos or explicit messages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThese allegations are false and come on the eve of an election against the front-runner for governor,\u201d Swalwell said in a statement to CNN. \u201cFor nearly 20 years, I have served the public \u2014 as a prosecutor and a congressman and have always protected women. I will defend myself with the facts and where necessary bring legal action. My focus in the coming days is to be with my wife and children and defend our decades of service against these lies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At least two of the women have since received cease-and-desist letters from Swalwell\u2019s legal team, arguing that their claims were \u201cundermined\u201d by their \u201cvoluntary and cooperative relationship with Mr. Swalwell over the course of many years\u201d following the alleged incidents.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An attorney for Swalwell also sent a letter to CNN denying that he had nonconsensual sex with any woman or ever had sexual relations with any of his staffers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, a member of Swalwell\u2019s staff said they quit immediately after CNN sent questions about the allegations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a video posted to social media after the article was published, Swalwell again denied the allegations but said he was sorry to his wife, Brittany Watts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/t\/assets\/html\/tweet-5.html#2042800069334962405\" data-btlnk=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RepSwalwell\/status\/2042800069334962405\" class=\"bnn-if-tweet\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"260\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cA lot has been said about me through anonymous allegations. I thought it was important that you see and hear from me directly,\u201d he began. \u201cThese allegations of sexual assault are flat false. They\u2019re absolutely false. They did not happen. They have never happened, and I will fight them with everything that I have.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThey also come on the eve of an election, where I have been the frontrunner candidate for governor in California,\u201d Swalwell continued, before saying, \u201cI do not suggest to you in any way that I am perfect or that I\u2019m a saint. I have certainly made mistakes in judgement in my past, but those mistakes are between me and my wife. And to her, I apologize deeply for putting her in this position.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He then invoked his time as a prosecutor to appeal to his supporters, saying that\u00a0 he \u201cwent to court on behalf of victims \u2014 particularly on behalf of sexual assault victims.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThat\u2019s who I am and who I\u2019ve always been,\u201d he remarked.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThis weekend, I\u2019m going to spend time with my family and friends. I appreciate those who have reached out to me to show support, and I look forward to updating you very soon,\u201d Swalwell concluded.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ally Sammarco, one of the woman whom he allegedly sent unsolicited pictures of his penis, replied to the video with, \u201cYou can\u2019t be serious.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/t\/assets\/html\/tweet-5.html#2042812919537103094\" data-btlnk=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Ally_Sammarco\/status\/2042812919537103094\" class=\"bnn-if-tweet\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"260\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><i>Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/rondeaulivia\"><span><i>X\/Twitter<\/i><\/span><\/a><i> and <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/rondeau.olivia\"><span><i>Instagram<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2026\/04\/11\/ex-staffer-accuses-rep-swalwell-of-sexual-assault-eric-shouldnt-have-raped-me\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), the leading Democrat gubernatorial candidate for California, has been accused of rape by a former staffer and varying forms of sexual misconduct&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}