California gubernatorial candidate Rep. , D-Calif., is facing backlash on social media after it was reported that his lawyer was sending cease-and-desist letters to Swalwell’s accusers a day before multiple bombshell allegations were published on Friday.
Swalwell, who once called on lawmakers to hear out women raising allegations against Supreme Court Justice nominee during his 2018 confirmation hearings and said they “deserve to be heard,” is now being slammed for hypocrisy.
“I saw continued demeaning of victims of sexual assault, people who deserve to be heard, people who deserve their allegations to be investigated and a president who wants to rush this through,” Swalwell said in an interview with MSNBC at the time.
“And so, for Brett Kavanaughs sake, if he is innocent, I hope tomorrow he opens his statement and says, You know what? Bring in all the victims, all of them to be questioned. That will clear his name if he is indeed innocent,” Swalwell added.
The resurfaced clip comes as Swalwell has made efforts to downplay as he leads a crowded field of gubernatorial hopefuls in a race to replace outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is prevented by term limits from remaining in the role.
Jonathan Turley, a Fox News contributor and Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, took to X on Friday, saying Swalwell is “hoping that voters will apply a different standard than the one he applied to Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation.”
“When Kavanaugh was asserting his innocence, Swalwell was leading the mob,” Turley continued.
Mike Davis, the former chief counsel for nominations in the Senate Judiciary Committee, posted “Receipt time” on X while resurfacing an old Swalwell post attacking Kavanaugh.
“Oh, how I remember this hypocritical predator peddling these utterly bullsh– allegations against Kavanaugh,” Davis said in another post.
Rumblings of sexual misconduct from Swalwell first emerged last month when Cheyenne Hunt, a former Capitol Hill staffer and a progressive political media personality, began circulating who said they had been sexually assaulted by the congressman.
Swalwell’s lawyer, Elias Dabaie, reportedly sent out cease-and-desist letters to try to quell the rumors Thursday, but multiple outlets, including CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle, published bombshell reports Friday, which Swalwell later denied in a video he posted late Friday night on X.
One of the alleged victims shared her story publicly for the first time, accusing Swalwell of taking advantage of her while she was intoxicated on multiple occasions, according to a report published by the San Francisco Chronicle.Â
The alleged victim’s story also included claims that Swalwell pressured her to send naked pictures of herself and sent sexually explicit photos of his own, pulled out his private parts while driving in a car with her and requested she perform oral sex on him, among other incidents the victim said affected how Swalwell treated her professionally.
The unnamed female accuser reportedly worked for Swalwell for about two years and revealed that he started pursuing her, despite being married, shortly after she was hired as a 21-year-old staffer in his district office. Â
She also reportedly revealed that years after she worked for Swalwell, she attended an April 2024 charity event Swalwell was being honored at and reunited with him. In her account of the night, wh
