Swalwell Campaign Denies ‘false, Outrageous’ Claims Of Inappropriate Behavior

Rep. Eric Swalwell’s campaign for governor denied on Tuesday that he had ever behaved inappropriately with female staffers, countering a number of left-leaning influencers and other social media accounts that have alleged without evidence that he has a record of improper behavior.

The decision by the California Democrat’s campaign to confront the claims is an unusually forceful move to rebut vague allegations that have not been vetted and published in the media or leveled by anyone claiming firsthand knowledge of the purported behavior.

“This false, outrageous rumor is being spread 27 days before an election begins by flailing opponents who have sadly teamed up with MAGA conspiracy theorists because they know Eric Swalwell is the frontrunner in this race,” said Micah Beasley, a spokesperson for Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign, in a statement to POLITICO.

The denial comes as claims of wrongdoing have crescendoed on social media, primarily from a number of left-leaning online influencers. In public posts, these influencers say they have heard accounts from people who allege Swalwell engaged in inappropriate behavior as a member of Congress toward staff and other women. POLITICO hasn't independently confirmed allegations of wrongdoing against Swalwell.

The influencers say a group of women have retained counsel and plan to speak out soon, but they claim some have been hesitant because they have signed a non-disclosure agreement.

The Swalwell campaign disputed the existence of any NDAs.

“In 13 years, no one in Eric Swalwell's Congressional office has ever been asked to sign an NDA. Ever,” Beasley said in his statement. “In 13 years, not a single ethics complaint by any staff in his office or any other office has ever been lodged. Ever.”

A Swalwell campaign adviser, asked if the representative had ever asked anyone to sign an NDA, regardless of if they were staff, said that Swalwell has “never asked someone to personally sign an NDA,” though the campaign does have a privacy agreement to protect confidential materials.

For weeks, the campaign had not commented as the swirl of allegations percolated largely among liberal social media users. But the volume of the rumors and speculation about forthcoming accusations increased significantly in recent days, crossing over to right-leaning influencers. On Monday, the conservative news outlet the Daily Caller News Foundationpublished a story largely based on posts by one influencer, who is a former Democratic congressional candidate.

That escalation — combined with primary ballots dropping in less than a month and specific assertions to dispute, such as the NDAs — was the tipping point that pushed the Swalwell campaign to respond, said the campaign adviser, who was granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Swalwell, who has emerged as a top Democratic contender to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, has long faced attacks from the online right over his association with Christine Fang, a suspected Chinese intelligence operative also known as Fang Fang.

Swalwell, who was not accused of wrongdoing, cut off ties from Fang after the FBI alerted him around 2015 to concerns she was a spy. Last month, the Washington Post reported that FBI Director Kash Patel is pushing to release case files from the decade-old probe that resulted in no criminal charges against Swalwell.

Swalwell slammed Patel’s reported plans as “laughable” and told POLITICO it was proof the Trump administration was motivated by personal vendetta against him.

Other candidates running against Swalwell in California’s open primary in June are Democrats Katie Porter, Tom Steyer, Xavier Becerra, Antonio Villaraigosa, Tony Thurmond and Betty Yee, and Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco. In recent public polls, Swalwell has been in a statistical tie with Steyer and Porter.