Manhattan DA Opens an Investigation Into Swalwell

Eric Swalwell's rapidly unraveling bid to be California's next governor is now colliding with a criminal probe in New York. The Manhattan district attorney's office said Saturday it has opened an investigation into the congressman after multiple women accused him of sexual assault and other misconduct in reports by the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN, and urged anyone with information to contact its Special Victims Division. One allegation involves a former staffer who says Swalwell assaulted her in a New York City hotel room in 2024; other women told CNN he tried to kiss and touch them without consent or sent unsolicited explicit photos. The New York Times says it has not independently verified the assault claims.

Swalwell, 45, a Democrat and once a frontrunner to replace term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom, has strongly denied the accusations and framed them as a coordinated political hit, vowing to "defend myself with the facts." But the wheels continue to come off his campaign, with a statement signed Swalwell's "senior staff" calling his behavior "abhorrent" and saying they stand with the former staffer who accused him. "There's a fork firmly implanted in him," says Democratic strategist Steven Maviglio. "It's over." Any exit from the governor's race would throw a crowded field wide open with less than a month to go before ballots are mailed out, notes the Times.

In a separate report, the Times notes that Swalwell may not simply find himself out of the running for the governor's mansion, but out of a job altogether. Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna has brought a motion to expel him from the House that could trigger a ripple effect on three other representatives facing similar allegations. "I don't care what the party affiliation is, if they are corrupt and engaging in illegal activity in Congress I'm going to vote to expel them," Luna wrote on social media. "It is time Congress had a good house cleaning." The ouster of four members of the House—also including Florida Republican Cory Mills, Texas Republican Tony Gonzalez, and Florida Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick—is unprecedented: a total of only six representatives in history have been forced out of the House by their peers.