Democrats, stop 'whatabouting' Eric Swalwell sexual assault allegations

By Melinda Henneberger

“These allegations are flat false.”

Those Democrats who are ‘whatabouting’ the serious multiple sexual assault allegations against California Rep. Eric Swalwell need to stop it. Either there is a lot of denial out there, or you really only care about sexual violence when the accused is someone you never heard of or don’t like.

I would not like to think it’s the latter, but have we learned nothing since the days when famous feminists defended Bill Clinton because OK he was a dog but he was our dog? Did the #MeToo avalanche, which as it turned out only lasted for about four minutes, end in collective amnesia? You only have to look at the Epstein emails to know that the entitled offenders are all over the map politically. And that has always been the case; why wouldn’t it be?

Yes, it’s painful when someone you see as one of the good guys turns out not to be all that you thought he was.

But please stop saying, ‘Let’s not Al Franken Eric Swalwell!’ Stop reasoning that as long as there’s a predator in the White House – Donald Trump has, after all, been found liable in a civil trial of sexually abusing a woman, and has been accused by dozens of others – well then why should poor Eric have to drop out of the California governor’s race?

I expect that he will drop out any minute. (UPDATE: He just did, some hours after this ran.) But here’s why he should have: Could we not have any more credibly accused rapists in either high or low office? Is that really more than we can manage?

According to very thoroughly reported pieces on CNN.com, and in the San Francisco Chronicle, four women accused Swalwell of sexual misconduct, and one of them, a former staffer, said he raped her and left her “bruised and bleeding” while she was extremely intoxicated after a 2024 awards event in New York City. “I was pushing him off of me, saying no,” she told CNN. “He didn’t stop.”

Five years earlier, she said, while she was working for him, she had also blacked out and then woke up naked in bed with him in a hotel. She remembered almost nothing about what had happened, but realized they had had sex.

Another woman described a similar blackout situation, which raises the ugly possibility that he could have drugged these women. In any case, sex with someone too intoxicated to give consent is rape under the law.

Two women, including social media creator Ally Sammarco, said they’d received unsolicited penis pics from him.

Swalwell has denied all of the allegations, in statements and in a video. “These allegations are false and come on the eve of an election against the front-runner for governor,” Swalwell said in a statement to CNN. “For nearly 20 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 lies.”

Both the CNN and Chronicle stories, which include a lot of corroboration, would have been carefully vetted by lawyers. After the news came out, many on Swalwell’s staff immediately sided with the women and quit. A bunch of top Democrats, in his state and across the country, said he should get out of the race.

His campaign effectively ended when former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had been supporting him, said this: “This extremely sensitive matter must be appropriately investigated with full transparency and accountability. As I discussed with Congressman Swalwell, it is clear that is best done outside of a gubernatorial campaign.”

He really had no choice. Because it’s hard not to see this as a pattern of unwanted behavior.

And some said they have known about his history with women for years.

So back to the point I keep hearing, which is why should Swalwell have had to go when Trump, who has also denied all wrongdoing, can stay no matter what he does: Well, Trump should not be in office for hundreds of reasons, and when he admitted on tape to grabbing women, that should have ended this nightmare before it ever began. But, many excused it and only they know why.

The astute reader will have guessed that I do not excuse it no matter who you are, or how much I may agree with your politics.

Innocent until proven guilty, you cry. That applies in court, where a person’s freedom is at stake, and where, since the Manhattan DA is investigating the rape allegation in this matter, it will hopefully be litigated.

The guilty are rarely proven so in court when it comes to this crime, and only this crime. But we do not have to elevate those who have all of the hallmarks of guilt — multiple accusations from women who did not even know each other with similar stories who told people at the time what had happened to them.

I know you don’t want to hear it, but that was the case with charming, smart Bill Clinton; read Mike Isikoff’s reporting on then-Clinton volunteer Juanita Broaddrick’s rape allegations sometime and tell me if you dare that she made it all up. I’m sorry, but despite his denials, the reporting says otherwise, and I don’t think she did.

I covered all of this at the time and can tell you that despite all of the class-based things said about Paula Jones, my reporting convinced me that she was telling the truth, too. Feminists treated these women like they were nothing, and it wasn’t right.

Similarly, if today’s Republicans want to continue to be ensorcelled by someone who has been accused by even more women, that does not make me want to follow their example.

Can we not just stop electing predators? I really don’t know why this is such a big lift.

And one final issue with Swalwell: It's wretched for him to say he's not a saint, has made mistakes, but those are “between me and my wife." No, Eric, those are on you, period. How dare you try and drag her into mistakes made solely by your favorite person.