April 11, 2026
Top Democrat in CA Gov Race Accused of Sexual Assault by Former Staffer
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RSS Feed There are growing calls for California Congressman Eric Swalwell to drop out of the race for Governor amid accusations of sexual assault and sexually inappropriate behavior with other young women. At least four women have spoken out detailing several alleged incidents, all of which Congressman Swalwell has denied. Swalwell is a married father of three who has been a member of Congress since 2013.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, there're folks. It is Saturday, April eleventh, and the leading Democrat in the race for California governor is being accused of rape by a woman who once worked for him. And she is not the only woman speaking out right now. I've been against California Congressman Eric Swollwell with that. Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Roapes. This is a very explosive story politically, There's been a lot of activity just in the past twenty four hours, but on the face of it, this is some pretty ugly stuff.
00:00:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there are growing calls now for him to drop out of the race by some very prominent Democrats. So we haven't heard yet from the congressman about what his plans are in terms of continuing to seek office. But he has vehemently denied the allegations. He has done it on a video and his attorney has been making the rounds on networks doing the same.
00:01:01
Speaker 1: Yes, he absolutely denies I think robes every bit so far of what has been alleged. But Eric Swolwell is who we're talking about. I think this was one person robes that a lot of people. If you hear the name, you might not immediately place it. But this is the guy who has gained a lot of prominence in recent years going head to head with President Trump. And I bet a lot of people as soon as you see his face, you go, oh, yeah, that guy.
00:01:26
Speaker 2: Yes, he has been a sparring partner, if you will, with President Trump and has certainly been rising the ranks of the Democratic Party and even ran for president. I hadn't realized this early on. Dropped out pretty quickly. Joe Biden ended up getting, of course, the nomination, but he has been laying the groundwork for a very powerful political career.
00:01:46
Speaker 3: He's a married father of three, and.
00:01:50
Speaker 2: This is politically devastating, criminally potentially even who knows what this young woman is willing to do or if she even plans to pursue charges on a criminal level.
00:02:02
Speaker 1: So the woman we're talking about is a woman who has now done at least two interviews. She is not naming herself or been named publicly, but she did an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, and then she did an on camera interview with CNN in which again she's blacked out, you cannot see her, and they do not name her. Now, Robes, we talk about Now we have the interviews, now we have the stories from these news outlets, But this is a story that had been bubbling at least for the past few weeks on social media, with frankly, some social media influencers tracking down this story.
00:02:35
Speaker 2: Yes, because the obvious, most egregious allegation is the allegation of rape and at least two accounts of sexual assault by the same woman. But some of these social media influencers describe a similar pattern of how they claim he would reach out and speak to some of these young women, DM them move over to Snapchat, and they all describe him being flirtatious and then starting to get more sexually explicit as the conversations continued. So they just called him out basically, I think once they realized his prominence and that he could very well become potentially the governor of California.
00:03:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, so some of those, like you said, robes and Snapchat plays into a lot of these allegations. But some of flirtatious leude folks, uh be honestly, yeah, I mean, and stuff that's one hundred percent inappropriate, and that had come to light, you would say, yeah, you should probably drop out. It's probably not good look for your wife. You should probably apologize. Yeah, all these things, but we're talking a different level something when you talk about a former staffer saying that this congressman raped me, and this is she uses that word, and it certainly even if she didn't, what she describes is no doubt that this is now raising it to a different level of conversation. Robes that has been taken seriously, and everybody is leading. There is nobody standing by his side right now. They are running as fast as they can away from this guy. Yeah.
00:04:09
Speaker 2: I actually don't remember the exact politician who wrote this, but he actually initially defended him and then went on social media and said I apologize for initially defending him, because once I read further into the allegations, I withdraw any support I gave him. So even the people who maybe initially were questioning the accounts immediately said, yeah, I'm going to have to go ahead and say I don't stand with this man and he should drop out of the race.
00:04:35
Speaker 1: And this is why let's get into the allegation now against Eric Swollwell again. He is the leading Democrat in the race or California governor. That race is coming up June two, if I do have righty correct, but he is in his I think seventh term now in representing California, the fourteenth district there in the Bay Area. You mentioned he's married with three kids. Now Ropes, we'll go back to twenty nineteen in this allegation. In particularly, this young woman says she was twenty years old and then intern when she first started working for him. She eventually got herself a junior staffer position. Part of her job Rose is she ended up driving him around several places and events he had to go to, and this was one of the first incidents. I think this might be the first that she starts to describe as inappropriate and going the wrong direction.
00:05:19
Speaker 2: Yes, she talked about again that same pattern where she claims he started out just flirtatious and complimentary and she liked the attention.
00:05:27
Speaker 3: It felt nice.
00:05:28
Speaker 2: It did start to turn sexual and went on to snapchat, she said. The first, yes, physical incident happened when she was driving him to an event.
00:05:36
Speaker 3: She was twenty one at the time.
00:05:38
Speaker 2: She says he told her to pull over in a parking lot and asked her to basically perform oral sex on him, and she said she started to do it and then got uncomfortable and said anyone could see us. And so she claims he said, you're right, it's probably not a good look for me to be caught with my pants down.
00:05:56
Speaker 1: Ha ha ha.
00:05:57
Speaker 2: But that was just the beginning and look, and she admits that that sexual banter continued back and forth where he asked for lude photos and she sent them to him.
00:06:10
Speaker 1: She flat out said she liked the attention. She used that phrase herself, She liked the attention. What started out here was he is one hundred percent wrong and starting any back and forth with a woman who started as an intern in your.
00:06:24
Speaker 3: Office's twenty one. He's thirty eight as at at the time.
00:06:27
Speaker 1: And again, there is a flat out rule in Congress, no relationship with staffers. It doesn't matter anything else, the consensual whatever age appropriate. No, So this is all wrong on his part, all of it now rhes. That's one thing I think. Same year though, Moving to the more serious allegations, Yes, so.
00:06:49
Speaker 2: They went out one night drinking with the group. Drinking plays a huge role in a lot of these allegations, like hardcore drinking.
00:06:56
Speaker 1: Not just nights out and having SIPs. We talking about blackout drunk in how they described these road Does that play into it? Should it? I don't know, but even she talks about how that heavy drinking plays into it. Yeah, go ahead it Yes.
00:07:10
Speaker 2: So they went from drinking with a group to then going out on their own to several other bars, where she says she does not remember what happened that night, but basically woke up naked in his hotel room, and she said she could feel that there had been vaginal intercourse.
00:07:27
Speaker 3: She just said she immediately knew that they had had.
00:07:29
Speaker 2: Sex, and that he even texted her and said something about, hey, you know, I had fun last night, and she said, I don't remember last night, and that was referenced later in the second incident.
00:07:40
Speaker 1: Okay with Robes, here is this incident. I'm not sure? No, no, no, she says she realized later. This is she was too drunk to give consent. Correct, and by law that is a sexual assault. Yes, correct, So she's flat out Going back to twenty nineteen, well again, night out. She says she doesn't remember how she got from them being out drinking to waking up the next morning. Yeah, she remembers nothing in there. And when I first heard that Robes. I thought, why is she alleging that he drugged her and that is not the case. We need to make that clear.
00:08:12
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, I think it was just a really night of heavy drinking where she, yeah, black got drunk. People talk about it all the time, and this was one of those moments where she realized that obviously something had happened without her consent, but she mostly kept it to herself at that point.
00:08:30
Speaker 1: Okay, and this is is this the incident where they had an event the next day? Yes, this is one where they ended up hiking.
00:08:38
Speaker 2: There was a hiking event the next day, and she said that he completely ignored her and acted like he didn't even know who she was. But then later that night went back on Snapchat and that's when he said, I had fun last night, and she said, I don't remember last night.
00:08:53
Speaker 1: So yeah, she.
00:08:55
Speaker 2: Definitely felt Obviously, I would imagine she felt pretty awful about everything that had happened, and certainly being ignored by that person the next day publicly probably stung even more.
00:09:07
Speaker 1: All Right, So this is twenty nineteen. She doesn't continue to work for him through twenty twenty four, but the next incident she describes was in twenty twenty four in New York. She hadn't worked for him my understanding in years at that point.
00:09:19
Speaker 3: She left the position in twenty twenty one. By the way, so she.
00:09:24
Speaker 2: Describes this night in twenty nineteen, she continued working for him for another two years and then left went to New York. And yes, had a different job, and he was speaking in New York. I believe or was at an event and she went to go attend it.
00:09:37
Speaker 1: Okay, Yes, she attends the event. From all accounts, he didn't invite her and didn't even know she was there. But while he is there, she reaches out to him and invites him out. And this was a group initially that went out and once again ended up just them too.
00:09:54
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, and so they went out and again a night of heavy dres going from bar to bar, and eventually, yes, she found herself once again in his hotel room. She says, in this incident she has flashes of memories, and she says she has flashes of him being on top of her. She has flashes of having sex with him, and she has flashes. This is the big thing of her saying no to him to get off her.
00:10:24
Speaker 1: This is the one that is, she describes clearly as rape. She uses the word rape. This man rapes me. Now what is his reaction to all of this? He did put out a couple of statements. It started yesterday Robes with a written statement, and then he ends up putting out a video that's at least a minute and a half long where you actually do see him on camera making a plea. But the first one here is his written statement that will share. This is the one they sent out to I believe the news organizations with everybody started asking.
00:10:55
Speaker 2: Questions, Yes, these allegations are false and come on the even of an a of an election against the front runner for governor. For nearly twenty years, I have served the public 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 lives.
00:11:22
Speaker 1: The legal action part of that. It's understood he sent letters to the news organization, cease and desist letters to news organizations saying that these accounts should not be published. Obviously they have been, and that's not going to stop now. The written statement was one thing, but he put out a minute and a half or so and Rosey looked right to camera and I mean he called him an anonymous allegation. Obviously he has to know who this person is, who this woman is. But he keeps saying false, did not happen, never happened. What is he suggesting, like all of this she's actually making up that they were in a hotel room together.
00:12:00
Speaker 2: Even well, he has to claim that she's making it up completely because yes, he and his lawyer. His lawyer sent a letter to CNN and this is in writing, according to CNN, denying the Slawwall has ever had non consensual sex with any woman ever.
00:12:19
Speaker 3: But here's the big thing.
00:12:20
Speaker 2: They claim in writing that he has never had sexual relations with any member of his staff. And she is alleging, at least the first one twenty nineteen, she was one hundred percent a member of his staff and actually from the oral sex to the actual intercourse, she was a staffer when she made these aura. She made the allegations that this happened while she was a staffer.
00:12:44
Speaker 1: Period. They're not being cute with words here, are they? She was just an intern at the time, so she technically wasn't a part.
00:12:50
Speaker 3: That would be even worse. They're not being count No, I don't think.
00:12:53
Speaker 1: So, but that being cute here I can we can actually say this out loud because it's actually technically true. They're not being cute here, are they?
00:12:59
Speaker 2: No?
00:12:59
Speaker 3: I don't think so.
00:13:00
Speaker 2: And I think the issue I think at least there I would believe that it's a he said, she said thing.
00:13:07
Speaker 3: There is no proof of sexual relations.
00:13:10
Speaker 2: Now, there could have been inappropriate sexual misconduct in terms of his text messages. And by the way, these alleged pictures of his penis that he reportedly sent to multiple women were all done on Snapchat, and so they disappear if if anyone listening doesn't understand, that's kind of the nature of that social media platform or that communication platform. And if you take a picture of it, if you screen grab it, it sends a notification to the person who sent it. So we have to take their word for it. Basically, there is no proof.
00:13:40
Speaker 1: And two we should mention if we haven't already, those agencies are reported they have reviewed text messages and talk to family members and friends that this woman reported to. In short order, correctly.
00:13:53
Speaker 2: They've said that they felt like they had exceptional corroboration to what she was saying, because within days of these events that she describes, friends agree that she told them she was sexually assaulted. She actually sent text messages that they reviewed that basically say, at the time these events were reported to have occurred, she talked about it.
00:14:14
Speaker 1: All right, So here's the most important line, I guess ro open this is the one that's getting headlines from his video statement quote, I do not suggest to you in any way that I'm perfect or a saint. I've certainly made mistakes in judgment in my past, but those mistakes are between me and my wife, and to her, I apologize deeply for putting her in this position. What does that mean as it relates to these allegations.
00:14:40
Speaker 2: It means that he's admitting to behaving badly as a husband, to having inappropriate either contact or communication with women who were not his wife. But that doesn't mean he's admitting to having sexual intercourse with a staffer, or sexual intercourse with any of these women. Just might have been too flirty, you know, I mean, who knows what he's saying here, but it certainly at least some of these text messages that we've seen. He's admitting, it seems as though, to having some sort of inappropriate behavior around women.
00:15:15
Speaker 1: His lawyer was asked about that in an interview with CNN and didn't address that stuff directly, said, what are you saying? Do you cheated on his wife? But this he said, look, I'll let it, so he skipped right over there. So we don't have clarity on what that means. But Robes, he says, these allegations are flat false. They did not happen. They never happened. You are Robes. To me, that is categorically denying every single word that's come out of this woman's mouth. About the incident in the car, about the incident in twenty nineteen, about the one in New York, two people, somebody is looking at us in lying yes.
00:15:49
Speaker 2: And by the way, we should point out this young woman the second incident in New York in twenty twenty four, when she was not his staffer. She describes a fairly brutal day after where she said she had bruises on her body, she was bleeding, and she ended up going to the hospital and got checked for pregnancy STDs, and she was in a relationship at the time. I don't know if she's still with the same guy, but she told him about the assault, so it's I mean, this is the second one, especially she describes as fairly violent.
00:16:21
Speaker 1: We'll stay here. We will also also want to tell you what the other women who have come forward, what those allegations are as well, and we'll tell you what the reaction has been. Some of the biggest names in politics in this country, and some of the biggest Democrats are saying that this man needs to get out of the race. Stay here, all right, We continue here on Amy and TJ with Congressman Swallowell, the leading Democrat at least in the race for California governor, now being accused of rape a former staff are also being incused of inappropriate behavior by some other women as well. And Rose he called himself the front runner. We need to make sure that's in contact. The way it works out there, the top two vote getters who are running, doesn't matter who they are, Democrat or Republican, end up being the two. They go head to head. He's running about third.
00:17:18
Speaker 2: Right, because it's two Republicans who are at the top, right now, correct, But so he's the leading Democrat and this is in the primary, So yes, only the top two move forward. But yes, there are other women who also have come out, and look, they say they were emboldened by one another. So one woman sees another woman's account and says, oh, my goodness, that happened to me. I thought I was the only one. And that's what all of them had said. They thought that they were singularly the object of his affection. They didn't realize that other women were also experiencing something similar. And so yes, initially all of these women, I believe said they were flattered by the attention and also kind of a little surprised. This one woman, Ali is Somarco. These are some social media influencers, and so she liked something and then he dms her. And again, initially they described being kind of taken aback, like actually thinking maybe they're being catfish. They can't believe a US congressman is is dming them just because they liked a post. And that's how these communications began, at least that's how these women describe it. And it quickly turned into flirtation to then pictures of him in bed, pictures of his penis.
00:18:24
Speaker 3: It's a pattern.
00:18:26
Speaker 2: It seems at least these women are all consistent in what they're describing.
00:18:29
Speaker 1: Hey, gay, we don't want to downplay some of the allegations with these other women. All of this described some inappropriate that's the best way to put it. Behavior an abuse of power for sure. Yeah, and it doesn't rise to excuse me. I just I don't want to doubt lay what they're saying. But based on the allegations from the staffer, it's why some of these others aren't getting necessarily the same attention. Yeah, it's the other stuff is just it's terrible.
00:18:53
Speaker 2: And one of the women actually met with him, and she was actually in a relationship, and she said she saw him getting really flirty. They were in a booth, they were drinking once again, and she said she started talking about his wife and his kids and trying to ask him questions about his family so that he would get the idea that she was there solely to talk about business and just politics. And he started to put his hand on her thigh, tried to kiss her. So yes, but she didn't take the bait, but still described being very uncomfortable.
00:19:23
Speaker 1: Sounds like Adam Schiff a, Kim Jefferies, Nancy Pelosi. They are all uncomfortable as well because these are again you know those names, but these are have been big time supporters of Swowell who are now saying he should get out of this race that King Jefferies has called on him to do so. Schiff has pulled his support, and SEIU, the big all influential union out there in California, pulled their support. The California Teachers Association Robes doesn't want anything to do with him. So all, I mean, I don't know how you, I mean, does this matter? Should we even be talking about a race? Guy's got some work to do with his family, and this guy's got my again, I don't know how the she came forward and she's speaking. I'm not sure criminally, which he's.
00:20:09
Speaker 2: Pursuing exactly, because that's where I was thinking. Politically, Obviously, this is catastrophic. Politically, he's going to have to wake up and recognize the situation he's in and this is this is not survivable, period. It just is not survivable. Now, could this be criminal? That is a question that we don't know the answer to yet. But Nancy Pelosi put it very clearly to him. She said that she told him, Yeah, this investigation needs to take place outside of a gubernatorial campaign, and that's really probably the best way to put.
00:20:38
Speaker 1: It, interesting way to put it without saying get out, say yes we should look into this, but not why you're running for governors.
00:20:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is those two things just don't go well together.
00:20:47
Speaker 1: And look, we always robes in these cases, they do get complicated because you always want to encourage. You always want every woman comfortable coming forward and feeling safe and feeling like she will be listened to, at least first, at least in minimum, listen to before we even get to believe. Some women aren't even listened to in the first place. But you have this story, robe, you have to this is politics. Is this a case where you hear this and you just have to automatically we believe her, And that means he should lose everything that he's worked for. I mean, we should just believe her and that's the end of it. I mean, with what she describes is not survivable. But in a case like this, where something this high stakes, how much do you examine how much do you lend credibility or careful about it because of the stakes or does it just an automatic we believe her swallow? Well, you're done.
00:21:46
Speaker 2: Well, you know what, I think if it were just the one former staffer, it might be a little more. Does she You'd have to look into it a little further. Does she have a motivation? Is she being you know, of course the allegations you're going to be that this is you know, maga, this is you know, the right trying to take him down. And sure, I'm not naive enough to think that that can't happen and doesn't happen. But when you have four women and look, they're varying accounts, but there's a similar pattern. This is serious and voters need to be able to take that into consideration if he wants to stay in the race, because this is a problem. If you see a man who abuses his power and you have four women now saying he did just that.
00:22:23
Speaker 1: You just said it ropes, stay on the ballot, knock yourself out, and voters can do whatever they want to do. Yeah, who should be telling him to drop out of the race or not. Yes, maybe it's the right thing for his family, maybe it's the right thing for these women, But let the voters decide who are we to say.
00:22:39
Speaker 2: They can listen to the women themselves, they can read the accounts, and they can decide who to choose when they go to the polls.
00:22:44
Speaker 1: And who to believe. That is a very good point, all right, folks, We want to hop on on this one. This was an explosive story in politics that was I guess, like we said, it had been bowling a bubbling, I should say, for the past couple of weeks, but completely finally bowled over yesterday. We always appreciate you Splease up time with us for my dear Amy Robock. I am t J. Hopes stop soon. M hmmm h
Speaker 1: Hey, there're folks. It is Saturday, April eleventh, and the leading Democrat in the race for California governor is being accused of rape by a woman who once worked for him. And she is not the only woman speaking out right now. I've been against California Congressman Eric Swollwell with that. Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Roapes. This is a very explosive story politically, There's been a lot of activity just in the past twenty four hours, but on the face of it, this is some pretty ugly stuff.
00:00:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there are growing calls now for him to drop out of the race by some very prominent Democrats. So we haven't heard yet from the congressman about what his plans are in terms of continuing to seek office. But he has vehemently denied the allegations. He has done it on a video and his attorney has been making the rounds on networks doing the same.
00:01:01
Speaker 1: Yes, he absolutely denies I think robes every bit so far of what has been alleged. But Eric Swolwell is who we're talking about. I think this was one person robes that a lot of people. If you hear the name, you might not immediately place it. But this is the guy who has gained a lot of prominence in recent years going head to head with President Trump. And I bet a lot of people as soon as you see his face, you go, oh, yeah, that guy.
00:01:26
Speaker 2: Yes, he has been a sparring partner, if you will, with President Trump and has certainly been rising the ranks of the Democratic Party and even ran for president. I hadn't realized this early on. Dropped out pretty quickly. Joe Biden ended up getting, of course, the nomination, but he has been laying the groundwork for a very powerful political career.
00:01:46
Speaker 3: He's a married father of three, and.
00:01:50
Speaker 2: This is politically devastating, criminally potentially even who knows what this young woman is willing to do or if she even plans to pursue charges on a criminal level.
00:02:02
Speaker 1: So the woman we're talking about is a woman who has now done at least two interviews. She is not naming herself or been named publicly, but she did an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, and then she did an on camera interview with CNN in which again she's blacked out, you cannot see her, and they do not name her. Now, Robes, we talk about Now we have the interviews, now we have the stories from these news outlets, But this is a story that had been bubbling at least for the past few weeks on social media, with frankly, some social media influencers tracking down this story.
00:02:35
Speaker 2: Yes, because the obvious, most egregious allegation is the allegation of rape and at least two accounts of sexual assault by the same woman. But some of these social media influencers describe a similar pattern of how they claim he would reach out and speak to some of these young women, DM them move over to Snapchat, and they all describe him being flirtatious and then starting to get more sexually explicit as the conversations continued. So they just called him out basically, I think once they realized his prominence and that he could very well become potentially the governor of California.
00:03:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, so some of those, like you said, robes and Snapchat plays into a lot of these allegations. But some of flirtatious leude folks, uh be honestly, yeah, I mean, and stuff that's one hundred percent inappropriate, and that had come to light, you would say, yeah, you should probably drop out. It's probably not good look for your wife. You should probably apologize. Yeah, all these things, but we're talking a different level something when you talk about a former staffer saying that this congressman raped me, and this is she uses that word, and it certainly even if she didn't, what she describes is no doubt that this is now raising it to a different level of conversation. Robes that has been taken seriously, and everybody is leading. There is nobody standing by his side right now. They are running as fast as they can away from this guy. Yeah.
00:04:09
Speaker 2: I actually don't remember the exact politician who wrote this, but he actually initially defended him and then went on social media and said I apologize for initially defending him, because once I read further into the allegations, I withdraw any support I gave him. So even the people who maybe initially were questioning the accounts immediately said, yeah, I'm going to have to go ahead and say I don't stand with this man and he should drop out of the race.
00:04:35
Speaker 1: And this is why let's get into the allegation now against Eric Swollwell again. He is the leading Democrat in the race or California governor. That race is coming up June two, if I do have righty correct, but he is in his I think seventh term now in representing California, the fourteenth district there in the Bay Area. You mentioned he's married with three kids. Now Ropes, we'll go back to twenty nineteen in this allegation. In particularly, this young woman says she was twenty years old and then intern when she first started working for him. She eventually got herself a junior staffer position. Part of her job Rose is she ended up driving him around several places and events he had to go to, and this was one of the first incidents. I think this might be the first that she starts to describe as inappropriate and going the wrong direction.
00:05:19
Speaker 2: Yes, she talked about again that same pattern where she claims he started out just flirtatious and complimentary and she liked the attention.
00:05:27
Speaker 3: It felt nice.
00:05:28
Speaker 2: It did start to turn sexual and went on to snapchat, she said. The first, yes, physical incident happened when she was driving him to an event.
00:05:36
Speaker 3: She was twenty one at the time.
00:05:38
Speaker 2: She says he told her to pull over in a parking lot and asked her to basically perform oral sex on him, and she said she started to do it and then got uncomfortable and said anyone could see us. And so she claims he said, you're right, it's probably not a good look for me to be caught with my pants down.
00:05:56
Speaker 1: Ha ha ha.
00:05:57
Speaker 2: But that was just the beginning and look, and she admits that that sexual banter continued back and forth where he asked for lude photos and she sent them to him.
00:06:10
Speaker 1: She flat out said she liked the attention. She used that phrase herself, She liked the attention. What started out here was he is one hundred percent wrong and starting any back and forth with a woman who started as an intern in your.
00:06:24
Speaker 3: Office's twenty one. He's thirty eight as at at the time.
00:06:27
Speaker 1: And again, there is a flat out rule in Congress, no relationship with staffers. It doesn't matter anything else, the consensual whatever age appropriate. No, So this is all wrong on his part, all of it now rhes. That's one thing I think. Same year though, Moving to the more serious allegations, Yes, so.
00:06:49
Speaker 2: They went out one night drinking with the group. Drinking plays a huge role in a lot of these allegations, like hardcore drinking.
00:06:56
Speaker 1: Not just nights out and having SIPs. We talking about blackout drunk in how they described these road Does that play into it? Should it? I don't know, but even she talks about how that heavy drinking plays into it. Yeah, go ahead it Yes.
00:07:10
Speaker 2: So they went from drinking with a group to then going out on their own to several other bars, where she says she does not remember what happened that night, but basically woke up naked in his hotel room, and she said she could feel that there had been vaginal intercourse.
00:07:27
Speaker 3: She just said she immediately knew that they had had.
00:07:29
Speaker 2: Sex, and that he even texted her and said something about, hey, you know, I had fun last night, and she said, I don't remember last night, and that was referenced later in the second incident.
00:07:40
Speaker 1: Okay with Robes, here is this incident. I'm not sure? No, no, no, she says she realized later. This is she was too drunk to give consent. Correct, and by law that is a sexual assault. Yes, correct, So she's flat out Going back to twenty nineteen, well again, night out. She says she doesn't remember how she got from them being out drinking to waking up the next morning. Yeah, she remembers nothing in there. And when I first heard that Robes. I thought, why is she alleging that he drugged her and that is not the case. We need to make that clear.
00:08:12
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, I think it was just a really night of heavy drinking where she, yeah, black got drunk. People talk about it all the time, and this was one of those moments where she realized that obviously something had happened without her consent, but she mostly kept it to herself at that point.
00:08:30
Speaker 1: Okay, and this is is this the incident where they had an event the next day? Yes, this is one where they ended up hiking.
00:08:38
Speaker 2: There was a hiking event the next day, and she said that he completely ignored her and acted like he didn't even know who she was. But then later that night went back on Snapchat and that's when he said, I had fun last night, and she said, I don't remember last night.
00:08:53
Speaker 1: So yeah, she.
00:08:55
Speaker 2: Definitely felt Obviously, I would imagine she felt pretty awful about everything that had happened, and certainly being ignored by that person the next day publicly probably stung even more.
00:09:07
Speaker 1: All Right, So this is twenty nineteen. She doesn't continue to work for him through twenty twenty four, but the next incident she describes was in twenty twenty four in New York. She hadn't worked for him my understanding in years at that point.
00:09:19
Speaker 3: She left the position in twenty twenty one. By the way, so she.
00:09:24
Speaker 2: Describes this night in twenty nineteen, she continued working for him for another two years and then left went to New York. And yes, had a different job, and he was speaking in New York. I believe or was at an event and she went to go attend it.
00:09:37
Speaker 1: Okay, Yes, she attends the event. From all accounts, he didn't invite her and didn't even know she was there. But while he is there, she reaches out to him and invites him out. And this was a group initially that went out and once again ended up just them too.
00:09:54
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, and so they went out and again a night of heavy dres going from bar to bar, and eventually, yes, she found herself once again in his hotel room. She says, in this incident she has flashes of memories, and she says she has flashes of him being on top of her. She has flashes of having sex with him, and she has flashes. This is the big thing of her saying no to him to get off her.
00:10:24
Speaker 1: This is the one that is, she describes clearly as rape. She uses the word rape. This man rapes me. Now what is his reaction to all of this? He did put out a couple of statements. It started yesterday Robes with a written statement, and then he ends up putting out a video that's at least a minute and a half long where you actually do see him on camera making a plea. But the first one here is his written statement that will share. This is the one they sent out to I believe the news organizations with everybody started asking.
00:10:55
Speaker 2: Questions, Yes, these allegations are false and come on the even of an a of an election against the front runner for governor. For nearly twenty years, I have served the public 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 lives.
00:11:22
Speaker 1: The legal action part of that. It's understood he sent letters to the news organization, cease and desist letters to news organizations saying that these accounts should not be published. Obviously they have been, and that's not going to stop now. The written statement was one thing, but he put out a minute and a half or so and Rosey looked right to camera and I mean he called him an anonymous allegation. Obviously he has to know who this person is, who this woman is. But he keeps saying false, did not happen, never happened. What is he suggesting, like all of this she's actually making up that they were in a hotel room together.
00:12:00
Speaker 2: Even well, he has to claim that she's making it up completely because yes, he and his lawyer. His lawyer sent a letter to CNN and this is in writing, according to CNN, denying the Slawwall has ever had non consensual sex with any woman ever.
00:12:19
Speaker 3: But here's the big thing.
00:12:20
Speaker 2: They claim in writing that he has never had sexual relations with any member of his staff. And she is alleging, at least the first one twenty nineteen, she was one hundred percent a member of his staff and actually from the oral sex to the actual intercourse, she was a staffer when she made these aura. She made the allegations that this happened while she was a staffer.
00:12:44
Speaker 1: Period. They're not being cute with words here, are they? She was just an intern at the time, so she technically wasn't a part.
00:12:50
Speaker 3: That would be even worse. They're not being count No, I don't think.
00:12:53
Speaker 1: So, but that being cute here I can we can actually say this out loud because it's actually technically true. They're not being cute here, are they?
00:12:59
Speaker 2: No?
00:12:59
Speaker 3: I don't think so.
00:13:00
Speaker 2: And I think the issue I think at least there I would believe that it's a he said, she said thing.
00:13:07
Speaker 3: There is no proof of sexual relations.
00:13:10
Speaker 2: Now, there could have been inappropriate sexual misconduct in terms of his text messages. And by the way, these alleged pictures of his penis that he reportedly sent to multiple women were all done on Snapchat, and so they disappear if if anyone listening doesn't understand, that's kind of the nature of that social media platform or that communication platform. And if you take a picture of it, if you screen grab it, it sends a notification to the person who sent it. So we have to take their word for it. Basically, there is no proof.
00:13:40
Speaker 1: And two we should mention if we haven't already, those agencies are reported they have reviewed text messages and talk to family members and friends that this woman reported to. In short order, correctly.
00:13:53
Speaker 2: They've said that they felt like they had exceptional corroboration to what she was saying, because within days of these events that she describes, friends agree that she told them she was sexually assaulted. She actually sent text messages that they reviewed that basically say, at the time these events were reported to have occurred, she talked about it.
00:14:14
Speaker 1: All right, So here's the most important line, I guess ro open this is the one that's getting headlines from his video statement quote, I do not suggest to you in any way that I'm perfect or a saint. I've certainly made mistakes in judgment in my past, but those mistakes are between me and my wife, and to her, I apologize deeply for putting her in this position. What does that mean as it relates to these allegations.
00:14:40
Speaker 2: It means that he's admitting to behaving badly as a husband, to having inappropriate either contact or communication with women who were not his wife. But that doesn't mean he's admitting to having sexual intercourse with a staffer, or sexual intercourse with any of these women. Just might have been too flirty, you know, I mean, who knows what he's saying here, but it certainly at least some of these text messages that we've seen. He's admitting, it seems as though, to having some sort of inappropriate behavior around women.
00:15:15
Speaker 1: His lawyer was asked about that in an interview with CNN and didn't address that stuff directly, said, what are you saying? Do you cheated on his wife? But this he said, look, I'll let it, so he skipped right over there. So we don't have clarity on what that means. But Robes, he says, these allegations are flat false. They did not happen. They never happened. You are Robes. To me, that is categorically denying every single word that's come out of this woman's mouth. About the incident in the car, about the incident in twenty nineteen, about the one in New York, two people, somebody is looking at us in lying yes.
00:15:49
Speaker 2: And by the way, we should point out this young woman the second incident in New York in twenty twenty four, when she was not his staffer. She describes a fairly brutal day after where she said she had bruises on her body, she was bleeding, and she ended up going to the hospital and got checked for pregnancy STDs, and she was in a relationship at the time. I don't know if she's still with the same guy, but she told him about the assault, so it's I mean, this is the second one, especially she describes as fairly violent.
00:16:21
Speaker 1: We'll stay here. We will also also want to tell you what the other women who have come forward, what those allegations are as well, and we'll tell you what the reaction has been. Some of the biggest names in politics in this country, and some of the biggest Democrats are saying that this man needs to get out of the race. Stay here, all right, We continue here on Amy and TJ with Congressman Swallowell, the leading Democrat at least in the race for California governor, now being accused of rape a former staff are also being incused of inappropriate behavior by some other women as well. And Rose he called himself the front runner. We need to make sure that's in contact. The way it works out there, the top two vote getters who are running, doesn't matter who they are, Democrat or Republican, end up being the two. They go head to head. He's running about third.
00:17:18
Speaker 2: Right, because it's two Republicans who are at the top, right now, correct, But so he's the leading Democrat and this is in the primary, So yes, only the top two move forward. But yes, there are other women who also have come out, and look, they say they were emboldened by one another. So one woman sees another woman's account and says, oh, my goodness, that happened to me. I thought I was the only one. And that's what all of them had said. They thought that they were singularly the object of his affection. They didn't realize that other women were also experiencing something similar. And so yes, initially all of these women, I believe said they were flattered by the attention and also kind of a little surprised. This one woman, Ali is Somarco. These are some social media influencers, and so she liked something and then he dms her. And again, initially they described being kind of taken aback, like actually thinking maybe they're being catfish. They can't believe a US congressman is is dming them just because they liked a post. And that's how these communications began, at least that's how these women describe it. And it quickly turned into flirtation to then pictures of him in bed, pictures of his penis.
00:18:24
Speaker 3: It's a pattern.
00:18:26
Speaker 2: It seems at least these women are all consistent in what they're describing.
00:18:29
Speaker 1: Hey, gay, we don't want to downplay some of the allegations with these other women. All of this described some inappropriate that's the best way to put it. Behavior an abuse of power for sure. Yeah, and it doesn't rise to excuse me. I just I don't want to doubt lay what they're saying. But based on the allegations from the staffer, it's why some of these others aren't getting necessarily the same attention. Yeah, it's the other stuff is just it's terrible.
00:18:53
Speaker 2: And one of the women actually met with him, and she was actually in a relationship, and she said she saw him getting really flirty. They were in a booth, they were drinking once again, and she said she started talking about his wife and his kids and trying to ask him questions about his family so that he would get the idea that she was there solely to talk about business and just politics. And he started to put his hand on her thigh, tried to kiss her. So yes, but she didn't take the bait, but still described being very uncomfortable.
00:19:23
Speaker 1: Sounds like Adam Schiff a, Kim Jefferies, Nancy Pelosi. They are all uncomfortable as well because these are again you know those names, but these are have been big time supporters of Swowell who are now saying he should get out of this race that King Jefferies has called on him to do so. Schiff has pulled his support, and SEIU, the big all influential union out there in California, pulled their support. The California Teachers Association Robes doesn't want anything to do with him. So all, I mean, I don't know how you, I mean, does this matter? Should we even be talking about a race? Guy's got some work to do with his family, and this guy's got my again, I don't know how the she came forward and she's speaking. I'm not sure criminally, which he's.
00:20:09
Speaker 2: Pursuing exactly, because that's where I was thinking. Politically, Obviously, this is catastrophic. Politically, he's going to have to wake up and recognize the situation he's in and this is this is not survivable, period. It just is not survivable. Now, could this be criminal? That is a question that we don't know the answer to yet. But Nancy Pelosi put it very clearly to him. She said that she told him, Yeah, this investigation needs to take place outside of a gubernatorial campaign, and that's really probably the best way to put.
00:20:38
Speaker 1: It, interesting way to put it without saying get out, say yes we should look into this, but not why you're running for governors.
00:20:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is those two things just don't go well together.
00:20:47
Speaker 1: And look, we always robes in these cases, they do get complicated because you always want to encourage. You always want every woman comfortable coming forward and feeling safe and feeling like she will be listened to, at least first, at least in minimum, listen to before we even get to believe. Some women aren't even listened to in the first place. But you have this story, robe, you have to this is politics. Is this a case where you hear this and you just have to automatically we believe her, And that means he should lose everything that he's worked for. I mean, we should just believe her and that's the end of it. I mean, with what she describes is not survivable. But in a case like this, where something this high stakes, how much do you examine how much do you lend credibility or careful about it because of the stakes or does it just an automatic we believe her swallow? Well, you're done.
00:21:46
Speaker 2: Well, you know what, I think if it were just the one former staffer, it might be a little more. Does she You'd have to look into it a little further. Does she have a motivation? Is she being you know, of course the allegations you're going to be that this is you know, maga, this is you know, the right trying to take him down. And sure, I'm not naive enough to think that that can't happen and doesn't happen. But when you have four women and look, they're varying accounts, but there's a similar pattern. This is serious and voters need to be able to take that into consideration if he wants to stay in the race, because this is a problem. If you see a man who abuses his power and you have four women now saying he did just that.
00:22:23
Speaker 1: You just said it ropes, stay on the ballot, knock yourself out, and voters can do whatever they want to do. Yeah, who should be telling him to drop out of the race or not. Yes, maybe it's the right thing for his family, maybe it's the right thing for these women, But let the voters decide who are we to say.
00:22:39
Speaker 2: They can listen to the women themselves, they can read the accounts, and they can decide who to choose when they go to the polls.
00:22:44
Speaker 1: And who to believe. That is a very good point, all right, folks, We want to hop on on this one. This was an explosive story in politics that was I guess, like we said, it had been bowling a bubbling, I should say, for the past couple of weeks, but completely finally bowled over yesterday. We always appreciate you Splease up time with us for my dear Amy Robock. I am t J. Hopes stop soon. M hmmm h