Below is my column on Fox.com on the Swalwell scandal. His resignation from Congress was expected in light of the likely expulsion and criminal investigations awaiting him. The worst, however, may be yet to come.
Here is the column:
The resignation of Rep. Eric Swalwell (D., Cal.) came with one of the most spectacular falls in political history. Just days ago, Swalwell was the leading Democratic candidate for governor of California and positioned to be one of two final candidates (the other a Republican). He expected that, regardless of his unpopularity, California Democrats would never vote for a Republican.
Now Swalwell has pulled out of the race, pulled out of Congress, and was even tossed out of the home of a billionaire who had been letting him crash there during the scandal.
Swalwell continues to deny the allegations and pledges to fight them.
For the record, I have been one of Swalwell’s most vocal critics for the last ten years. Yet, while I am not surprised by the allegations, I am surprised by how quickly Swalwell was abandoned by his political patrons in Congress and the unions.
In Washington, Harry Truman advised politicians that if you want a friend in this city, get a dog. However, even Swalwell’s dog Penny has yet to appear in public with him. Presumably, she is consulting with her own canine crisis team.
Swalwell has spent his entire career protected by an enabling establishment and media. He was a made man in Washington, and those who made him protected him despite years of rumors and allegations of misconduct.
He was never much of a legislator. One 2025 study showed that he was outvoted in Congress by a colleague who had died months earlier. His value was his vicious signature. He was always first to a mob. When Sen. Susan Collins received death threats, it was Swalwell who mocked her. In running for governor, he not only pledged to arrest ICE agents but to deny them driver’s licenses and jobs. He trafficked in unadulterated rage to a nation of rage addicts.
His greatest patron was Nancy Pelosi, who single-handedly saved Swalwell’s career when he was found to have had an affair with an alleged Chinese spy. She told the media, “I don’t have any concern about Mr. Swalwell.” For most of the media, that was enough and they slinked away.
When critics sought to remove him from the classified House Intelligence Committee, Pelosi shocked many by insisting that he remain in the sensitive position, lashing out at those “trying to make an issue of this.”
Now, Pelosi and the media allies are gone. Even Swalwell’s friend, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D., Ariz.), has morphed into Claude Rains and proclaimed that he is “shocked” by the allegations. His former campaign chair, Gallego was shown in a picture bare-chested and riding camels with Swalwell on a luxury junket paid for by Qatar business interests.
The photo has not aged well for Gallego any more than his earlier lament that the Democratic party “used to be the party of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.”
The abandonment of Swalwell is a familiar move of political triage. By letting Swalwell succumb to the scandal, Pelosi and others hope to protect the establishment from any blowback after years of enabling his career. The media, as usual, is complying.
The media will cover a scandal involving a leading Democrat if there is no real alternative. What is interesting is how the Democratic establishment is now signaling that they want Swalwell destroyed — quickly and surgically.
The media is content calling Swalwell a monster without delving into who created and released that monster. Swalwell is no self-made man. He is a made man of the Democratic establishment.
The alleged victims have lashed out not only at Swalwell but also at many in the establishment. They allege that they were rebuffed when they tried to bring their allegations to reporters.
One independent reporter said that he had been raising similar allegations about Swalwell with California Democrats from before Swalwell was elected to Congress. He was also turned away.
Swalwell had a use and that made his “appetites” irrelevant. If even half of these allegations are true, it shows the sense of license that Swalwell developed for years in Washington.
He lost that political immunity this week and now faces real legal liability. That does not mean that Democrats will not try to control the damage. They want Swalwell to take a deal to avoid any investigations that will pull other Democrats into the vortex of the scandal.
They are counting on New York and California district attorneys to produce the type of controlled explosion seen in construction where a hotel is brought down without damaging the adjacent structures.
The problem is Republicans may not just accept his resignation as the final act. They could call the women to testify and even call some of his congressional friends who took trips and partied with him. They could cite Swalwell himself for demanding such total transparency.
Swalwell’s resignation may indicate that he is now fully briefed on what lies ahead. With a criminal investigation announced in New York and one expected in California, any competent defense counsel would advise Swalwell that he needs to jettison every extraneous concern from his career to his office to his law license. Swalwell needs to fight for his liberty if these women are prepared to give statements not just to the media but to the police.
In both New York and California, the statute of limitations for rape and sexual assault were removed. The published allegations, from raping intoxicated women to leaving victims bruised and bleeding, would likely satisfy those statutes if established by the police.
Swalwell, ironically, will now join Hunter Biden as a political refugee. (Swalwell supported in his public defiance of a congressional subpoena). Like Hunter, Swalwell lost any influence and ability to make money when he fell out of power. Hunter is now reportedly millions in debt and remaining in South Africa.
Swalwell may have to burn through his wealth in fending off these criminal investigations in multiple jurisdictions. If any of the allegations are proven, he will likely lose his bar license and ability to support himself as a lawyer.
In the end, this is no morality tale because there are no more moral figures from Swalwell to those who created or protected him. It is a Washington tale where morality, like villainy, is measured by your proximity to power.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
Prof. Turley is a wonderful writer. This article is such a good example. Loved the passage about Gallego and Claude Rains in Casablanca. Also the one regarding the controlled dynamiting of high-rises.
Breaking news: that “Door Dash news conference” was totally staged as a diversion from Trump’s recent failures. Points: 1. The “Door Dash Grandmother” was flown in from Arkansas; 2. She is a longtime MAGA supporter; 3. She has appeared before a Congressional investigation committee and testified on behalf of Republicans; 4. It’s not possible for a random delivery person to get to the door of the White House; deliveries are left at the gate and screened; 5. Trump does not answer the door of the White House. It was all staged to try to highlight the “big beautiful bill” and no tax on tips.
How many of you MAGAS bought this BS?
Another question: what do you think about Trump portraying himself as Jesus Christ and then lying about it, claiming he was impersonating a physician and claiming that he “makes people better”?
How about attacking the Pope?
> that “Door Dash news conference” was totally staged
Of course it was. Did anyone think the secret service would just wave a random doordasher into the west wing? It’s no different than when he did the McDonald’s stunt. All the people he served through the drive through were his supporters. This wasn’t hidden.
> It was all staged to try to highlight the “big beautiful bill” and no tax on tips.
Politician stages stunt to advertise his agenda? Surely not! No one would be so uncouth!
> How about attacking the Pope?
*psst* Trump isn’t Catholic. Protestants have been attacking the Pope since Martin Luther started nailing things to church doors. (And that’s putting aside the farcical notion that Democrats are suddenly all pious)
How many people buy ANONS BS???
.. to the ‘Anon’ grasping for ANYTHIING, even erroneous, that will keep the narrative on DJT and not the topic at hand, which is SWALWELL…. why don’t u try being more meticulous.. yr words ‘attacking the Pope’ completely miss the Fact / Truth that it was the POPE doing the Attacking and DJT was doing the defending.. not the other way around………… and now we learn that David Axelrod had just visited the Pope… my oh my… considering Axelroid is not Catholic and is one of Obama’s favourite lackeys.. what is disheartening is that Leo would buy into being a Bagman for the Dem Reactionary Push to hurt DJT.. never mind that DJT had the Courage to finish the job Obama started when he spent 8 years Bombing 7 Islamist Regimes.. but never destroyed the epicenter of Terrorism… which is what DJT had the Courage to take on……………. Shame on Pope Leo for overstepping.
Why doesn’t Turley comment about Whiskey Pete—who paid a settlement to a woman who accused him of sexual assault and who Republicans confirmed as Secretary of Defense anyway? Whiskey Pete was also accused of being a wife beater — confirmed by his own mother—and had to promise to stop drinking alcohol. It should be unimaginable that a wife- beating alcoholic who paid off a sexual assault victim could be in charge of our military. Of course, Whiskey Pete has stymied the promotions of women and minorities. His stupid testosterone rages and attempted tough talk is the object of comedy skits.
You MAGAS want to talk about integrity in government and argue that allegations of sexual assault should be disqualifying? Democrats step up for the accusers—exemplified by Al Franken and Eric Swalwell. Not so with Republicans— they attack the victims, circle the wagons and lie. What do expect from a political party whose leader is a convicted felon who has been adjudicated guilty of sexual assault?
BIDEN CRIME FAMILY called that for good reasons!!
For NO reason— how many witnesses testified? I lost track, but Republicans sure tried to come up with actual proof that the Biden family did something wrong and came up with nothing.
Biden never accepted a luxury jet or sold worthless crypto to a foreign country or accepted a multi billion dollar bailout from a foreign government. How many people were charged with crimes from the Republican investigation into the Biden family? What crimes were JOE Biden charged with committing? Zilch!
PSYCHOBABBLE from ANON Trump was charged by DEMS using third world tactics. ALL CASES FALLING APART!!
I was “amazed” that the Manhattan DA would open an investigation into Swalwell so fast without any apparent connection to NYC.
Me too, except “in 2024 while at a hotel in New York City.”
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/politics/manhattan-da-investigating-rep-eric-swalwell-sexual-assault-allegation/6488682/
Thank Swalwell. He took the Pope completely out of the news cycle.
Virginia has joined the national popular vote compact – a law awarding VA’s electoral votes to the candidate that wins the national popular vote, rather than the candidate that wins Virginia.
AI overview: As of April 2026, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is not currently before the Supreme Court, but legal experts widely expect it to face a Supreme Court challenge once it takes effect. As of April 14, 2026, the compact has been adopted by 19 jurisdictions with 222 electoral votes—85% of the 270 needed to trigger the agreement, which would guarantee the presidency to the winner of the national popular vote.
Congress may at any time make or alter….
______________________________________________
Article 1, Section 4
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of choosing Senators.
Conspiracy? RICO?
The US hasn’t just sunk to 2nd class citizens but 3rd world citizens. I’m confident, beyond a shadow of a doubt that Christ’s father has many worlds, mansions. I’m hoping for a better one.
And how many articles did JT run on all the evidence that President Donald J Trump may be a child rapist?
That was Biden
What evidence is that? All I’ve seen is people saying “It’s hidden in the Epstein files!” I’m sorry, but a conspiracy theory is not evidence. I know it’s hard for your conspiracy theory nutters to get, but absence of evidence is not proof of coverup.
Yep, Swalwell is a creep. And in other news. The trump administration doesn’t even know who was President in 2020.
“This report on the ‘Biden Administration’s Weaponization of the FACE Act’ repeatedly cites conduct that occurred…during the first Trump administration.”
I find it interesting that the whole Swalwell kerfuffle happened the same week DNI Gabbard released docs that showed how the IC, DOJ IG, and Schiff colluded in Trump’s first impeachment. Look over here, over here, come on look over here at the Swalwell train wreck. Ignore the curtain being pulled back. Nothing titillating to see over there.
What a wonderful opportunity to leverage Swalwell testimony against his co-conspirators over the never ending seditious conspiracy against Trump, the impeachment and the 2020 election fraud!
Rape is a very serious crime and carries long prison sentences, let alone whatever felonies turn up as they begin examining his case. I would think all those people he’s conspired with would now start getting very nervous. I would have to believe he would readily provide testimony when he’s facing a 20 to life sentence.
How do you feel about all the people that conspired to keep trump out of the news that he raped a child? I think that is called pedophilia?
PSYCHOBABBLE
Surely Epstein has some dirt on Trump that Netanyahu has in hand to get him to make impossibly stupid war on Iran to all our detriment (except Netanyahu)
I was a 3 time DJT voter and now I repudiate him, his stupid war on Iran, his slavish following of Israel, his preposterous war crimes and threatened war crimes, and his offensive remarks about everyone who formerly supported him from Alex Jones to various Catholics.
DJT is mad, evidently, and should be removed lawfully via the 25th amendment
Anon
War crimes?? Name 1. Trump removed by the 25th but Biden wasn’t? ha ha ha ha
“The Scarlet Letter”, Nathaniel Hawthorne, I can’t recall the date but way back when. It isn’t new. One never knows when love will strike. The rule stands as never befriend married people if single. What may have been innocent is subject to cupid’s bow. Be mindful at all times is smart. Then there’s Johnny Cash and that ring of fire. ☺
The problem of men and women and the increase may be due to the increase in working women as close daily proximity. Swalwell might have the same ending as Dimsdale and Hester. 😏
Then there’s Feng Feng.
I’m not sure I’m seeing the comparison between Arthur Dimmesdale’s conduct and Swalwell’s drugging of women and raping them. Perhaps you could explain?
Omfk, of course there’s the evidence required as due process and exculpatory and inculpatory evidence.
I should be more serious as these are serious matters and women should be trained, educated to report because these things are dangerous to everyone but they aren’t new. Cultures, societies have differing approaches to these issues.
Let’s wait for his trial. The increase may be due to the close proximity of men and women in today’s workforce. It’s new because women once were housewives. Apparently it’s rampant behavior. I don’t think Swalwell is 1 in a million. He’s common.
I’m suggesting this cannot continue with accusations 20-40 years old. That should have an immediate reporting law instead.
Women must toughen up. At some point it must be recognized that the woman’s failure to report is a trade-off to her. It happened but I’m looking the other way for whatever reason. Yes, she became complicit in the crime and left the predator to do it again. That isn’t a moral decision but common.
It’s horrible for her but must be stopped. Dimsdale and Swalwell might be hanged and Hesters silence was guilt which she accepted. Not a great comparison but it’ll do.
Alternatively, men, as the Founders did, should toughen up and take women out of the voting booth and workplace and put them back in the maternity ward.
America is in a 1.6 fertility rate “death spiral,” while 2.1 is necessary for a stable population without dilutive and deleterious immigration.
I have not followed the Swallwell mess in detail.
But my understanding is that the allegations are or RAPE not adultery and that several are recent as in months ago – not years ago.
Dimsdale was an adulterer. Not a rapist. Hester did not claim she was raped.
There is no comparison.
IFIFY
Eric “Bill Cosby” Swalwell.
Apology, if you don’t see any comparison then I must be wrong. No comparison, omfk.
😂
Swalwell is married with 3 children. He hasn’t been charged with a crime, yet.
I’m neutral. I’ve heard public testimony so I don’t think it’s going anywhere. Scandal …
Adulterated jury pool 😑
He needs to stick around so people understand the kind of person the dems idolize. Difficult though, with a compliant media bent toward burying his story.
Tralala boom dee ay,
He sinked and “slinked away.”
Slunk like a skunk, eh?
Now Swalwell has pulled out of the race, pulled out of Congress
He should have thought of “pulling out” long ago.
They are counting on New York and California district attorneys to produce the type of controlled explosion seen in construction where a hotel is brought down without damaging the adjacent structures.
Yup:
https://jonathanturley.org/2026/04/12/pelosis-monster-the-creation-and-destruction-of-eric-swalwell/comment-page-3/#comment-2625785
Swalwell started out OK as a moderate Dem, very active in the CommonSense Caucus (bipartisan House Caucus working as problem-solvers). Then, Nancy Pelosi gave him a position as Party apparachnik (responsible for divvying up DNC donations among House Members). He changed overnight. He’s been our District representative since 2013.
In 2017, I made a very reasonable request offering an outline for The Citizenship Inheritance Act
of 2017, a reasonable way to reform Birthplace Citizenship in an orderly fashion. He refused any meeting within our district, and refused to give a reason for the refusal. I never forgave him for cowering on that issue.
He’s a total embarrassment. It’s pretty clear power went to his head. Now, he’s accused of serious sexual crimes.
DNC to Swalwell: “Get higher in the polls or no (more) rapey for you.”
Swalwell, Weinstein, Chavez; trying to prevent Trump from even being on ballots; crowning Kamala without a single vote;, massive public fraud; encouraging mob violence; blocking election reform to stop cheating; Democrats are adopting vile policies from the past: https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/stalin-photo-manipulation-1922-1953
LibsofTioTok has similar thoughts:
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/2044035823209693507
Like fine wine, these aged well.
Rep. Eric Swalwell
@RepSwalwell
The President must be removed.
If Congress is too cowardly to do it, his own Cabinet must.
12:58 PM · Apr 7, 2026 · 1.7M Views
https://x.com/RepSwalwell/status/2041561246462570837
Eric Swalwell
@ericswalwell
Support survivors.
Believe survivors.
We are with you.
#HandsOffIX
7:12 PM · Nov 16, 2018
https://x.com/ericswalwell/status/1063585508226449408
Karma’s a bear.
Has anyone else noticed how, when the Democrats want to get rid of a man, whether he be Republican or Democrat, they are suddenly able to find a boatload of women who will testify to sexual assault / harassment? The examples are numerous, e.g., Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, Al Franken, Bill O’Reilly. Their mode of operation suggest that either they knew already of actual assault/harassment (which they ignored) or they are encourage witnesses to inflate past encounters with these men into a pattern of abuse. Either way it is a frightening weapon.
EdwardMahl has a decent argument, however we may suffer from the classic “Can’t see the forest for the trees” – miss the big picture because one is too focused on the details. Perhaps the following should also be considered.
1. The use of a noisemaker can disguise the actual activity occurring. Example: Evidence suggests the CA Congressman was maintaining an inappropriate relationship with a foreign Agent (Chinese) while sitting on (and leaking evidence) from the Congressional Intelligence Committee (not to mention the role in RussiaGate, impeachments, fake news broadcasting through leakage, promotion of violent action against “those who are not welcome here”), . . . If allowed to exit (probably to the staff of Stanford University), the swapping of a jay-walking citation is a real win (remember the Hunter Biden “plea”)?
2. A chess player might notice this appears as a rook (or castle) swap. No causal penalties, just a balance trade that clears the board some for those – to the advantage of those with currently less pieces.
3. Action taken BEYOND the law (at least currently), where someone who could basically file 20 anonymous complaints in the “Epstein” case could use those “Complaints” as evidence the targeted political opponent victim would be perceived by those who never studied more than the 140 character opinion statements found in Twitter, X, Facebook, . . .
When finished with “Rage and The Republic” (which is IMHO, one of the best historical collation and interaction of knowledge, logic, and societal power in our lifetimes), will add comments re: Rage is the symptom, not the source – looking at what source is inducing the symptom may be have value.
Welcome to America
JFK, Monster
By Timothy Noah“I knew that John F. Kennedy was a compulsive, even pathological adulterer, given to taking outlandish risks after he entered the White House. I knew he treated women like whores. And I knew he had more than a few issues with his father about toughness and manliness and all that. But before I read in the newspaper that Mimi Alford’s just-released memoir, Once Upon A Secret: My Affair With President John F. Kennedy And Its Aftermath, described giving Dave Powers a blow job at JFK’s request and in his presence, I didn’t know that Kennedy had an appetite for subjecting those close to him to extreme humiliation.
“Clinton pays Paula Jones $850,000”
Associated Press
Wed 13 Jan 1999 13.15 EST
“WASHINGTON (AP) – Paula Jones is awaiting the arrival of an $850,000 cheque from President Clinton, bringing an official end to the four-year saga spurred by her allegations of sexual harassment.”
“FDR and His Women”
“… she was deeply wounded to discover that Franklin had been having an affair with her secretary, Lucy Mercer.”
Bill Clinton as enabled by Hillary Clinton
_______________________________
1. Eileen Wellstone (1969) Allegation: Sexual assault
2. Anonymous female student at Yale University (1972) Allegation: Sexual assault
3. Anonymous female student at the University of Arkansas (1974) Allegation: Sexual assault
4. Anonymous female lawyer (1977) Allegation: Sexual assault
5. Juanita Broaddrick (1978) Allegation: Rape
6. Carolyn Moffet (1979) Allegation: Sexual assault
7. Elizabeth Ward (1983) Allegation: Unclear
8. Sally Perdue (1983) Allegation: Unclear
9. Paula Jones (1991) Allegation: Sexual harassment
10. Sandra Allen James (1991) Allegation: Sexual assault
11. Christy Zercher (1992) Allegation: Sexual assault
12. Kathleen Willey (1993) Allegation: Sexual assault
This part of Alford’s story doesn’t really add anything to what we already know about Kennedy. Nor does it really change my opinion of the 35th president. But this part does:
Dave Powers was sitting poolside while the President and I swam lazy circles around each other, splashing playfully. Dave had removed his jacket and loosened his tie in the warm air of the pool, but he was otherwise fully clothed. He was sitting on a towel, with his pants leg rolled up, and his bare feet dangling in the water.
The President swam over and whispered in my ear. “Mr. Powers looks a little tense,” he said. “Would you take care of it?”
It was a dare, but I knew exactly what he meant. This was a challenge to give Dave Powers oral sex. I don’t think the President thought I’d do it, but I’m ashamed to say that I did. It was a pathetic, sordid, scene, and is very hard for me to think about today. Dave was jolly and obedient as I stood in the shallow end of the pool and performed my duties. The President silently watched.
Afterwards, Alford says she was “deeply embarrassed,” and as she climbed out of the pool she “could hear Dave speak in as stern a tone as I ever heard him use with his boss. ‘You shouldn’t have made her do that,’ Dave said. ‘I know, I know,’ I heard the President say. Later, a chastened President Kennedy apologized to us both.” Alford believes that Kennedy showed “his darker side … when we were among men he knew. That’s when he felt a need to display his power over me.” Kennedy didn’t just have a thing for Social Register girls; he had a thing for humiliating Social Register girls. He also had a thing for humiliating his fellow Irishman, Dave Powers.
Yes, anon, it’s apparent women throw themselves at powerful men. The meaning of DJT, They LET you grab them, said in astonishment.
You’ve learned something, anon!
Yes, women throw themselves at powerful men, anon. That’s not today’s topic.
JFK Monster!
There’s a good documentary about JFK and his sexual exploits that put the country at risk and probably led to Marilyn Monroe’s death on Amazon Prime now.
I really can’t watch anything about sordid behaviors. If women step up I’ll listen if there’s evidence and it’s timely but not much else
It was simply a coincidence that two of Marilyn’s lovers, John and Robert Kennedy, were in L.A. that night, quivering in fear of the terminal exposure Marilyn was about to unleash on both of them, the Mob et al., right?
Dad attended Harvard with JFK. His baby brother played football at Harvard with RFK. Jack was well known as quite the lady’s man back in the late thirties and forever after. I still like the guy.
Billy boy the punk is another type of animal, a cowardly puss. His list of victims extends to the moon and back 55,000 times and he was a spineless nothing.
What I like about Smellowhell is his gentlemanly accusations that Trump was a double agent working for Putin. The evidence he shared with the world was overwhelming.
Were you also rewarded with “service” from one of JFK’s “girlfriends” (i.e. interns)?
JFK didn’t “attend” Harvard, “Joe” “bought” Harvard for his sons.