Swalwell resigning from Congress after sexual assault accusations

[0:00] Democrat Eric Swalwell of California announced today he will resign his seat in Congress [0:05] after reports from multiple women accusing him of sexual misconduct, including in one case, [0:10] rape. In a statement this afternoon, Swalwell wrote, quote, I will fight the serious false [0:15] allegations made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I [0:21] did make. Earlier today, the House Ethics Committee had launched an investigation as some [0:26] of his Democratic colleagues called for his expulsion from the chamber. And over the [0:30] weekend, he also ended his campaign to be governor of California. Our congressional correspondent, [0:35] Lisa Desjardins, is here now with the latest. So, Lisa, just remind us, what exactly were the [0:40] allegations brought against Eric Swalwell? Rumors first rose over social media for the past few [0:46] days, but starting on Friday and over the weekend, we saw reporting first from the San Francisco [0:50] Chronicle and then CNN bombshell specific accusations against Congressman Swalwell. [0:56] CNN said that four women accused Swalwell of misconduct. Most were anonymous. One was named. [1:03] Now, those charges range from unsolicited explicit messages or nude photos to unwanted touching to [1:09] one accusation of rape. Now, we have not independently verified those charges. The rape accusation in both [1:16] stories is similar. It's made anonymously by a woman who says when she worked for Swalwell, [1:21] he took her out for drinks and then she passed out and she believes she was raped while she was passed [1:27] out by Swalwell. She says years later, after she stopped working for him, she again was alone with [1:33] Swalwell. And she says that time that she was raped after she said no to intercourse with him. Now, [1:40] Swalwell says none of that happened. He has maintained his innocence about that sexual misconduct, [1:45] but he did say he made some mistakes against his wife. Now, the question then is why did he resign [1:51] today? Let's look at more of his statement that he came out with. He wrote, [1:55] I am aware of efforts to bring an immediate expulsion vote against me and other members. [1:59] Expelling anyone in Congress without due process within days of an allegation being made is wrong, [2:05] but it is also wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties. Essentially, [2:10] two things that he's saying he doesn't want the precedent of due process being rolled over. And [2:15] he's also saying, it seems he feels the votes might've been there to expel him. Now, of course, [2:20] all of this came after he was in a major election battle. As you said, I reached out to Swalwell. [2:25] Personally, I've covered him for years. I have not heard back. You have, as part of your reporting, [2:29] been talking to staff and others, and it's, you've learned that staff saw red flags for years. Is that [2:35] right? That's correct. This is something you often think of as a whisper campaign. This is, [2:40] unfortunately, one of the major systems of protection for some Hill staffers. Now, [2:44] I learned from two different staffers who I've known for a while, have covered and worked with [2:48] in the past. One told me that multiple times they knew of Swalwell reaching out to interns. In one [2:54] case, Swalwell asking an intern for their Snapchat address to communicate that way, which it's not easy [3:00] to understand why a member of Congress would want to Snapchat with a young intern. The other staff [3:05] telling me that Swalwell, he saw that Swalwell on the floor of Congress taking young women there [3:11] after hours, and that the idea was that that was sort of something he did repeatedly. Now, [3:16] both of them saying that there was a whisper campaign to tell some interns and other young [3:20] women especially to stay away from him. But that's the problem with the whisper campaign. It depends on [3:25] being in the right place, having the right person looking out for you. [3:28] Now that he's resigned, there's no need to expel him. But where does all of this leave some of the [3:32] other efforts to expel other members of Congress? That's right. And this is breaking news right now. [3:37] I have confirmed with two different sources that we now expect Tony Gonzalez, a Republican from Texas, [3:42] to announce his plan to resign tomorrow. Now, as much many of our viewers will remember, and we have [3:47] covered before this, this last month, Gonzalez admitted that he had a sexual relationship with a [3:54] former staffer who died by suicide. We also in the last week saw reports that another former staffer [4:01] of Gonzalez's came out and said that he sent her explicit and unwanted messages. Sleeping with [4:07] staffers by members of Congress is explicitly against House rules. There was bipartisan backlash [4:13] against both Gonzalez and Swalwell. Both were up for potential expulsion. We're seeing both of them [4:20] reacting to that right now. Now, one example here, Gonzalez's fellow Republican, Byron Donald, spoke yesterday. [4:27] These allegations are despicable, and they demean the integrity of Congress. These things are just [4:35] completely unacceptable. As far as I'm concerned, both gentlemen need to go home. [4:39] Now, the Swalwell expulsion really grew from Democratic calls for their own member for Swalwell [4:44] to leave, Democrat Teresa Lajar-Fernandez. She heads the Congressional Women's Caucus. [4:50] She said Swalwell needed to go. And I spoke to her earlier. She said the entire ethics process [4:54] is deeply flawed. We need to fix our ethics process because it needs to work faster. It needs to be [5:01] easier for women staffers to report what's going on. Do you think there's a broader culture of sexual [5:09] misconduct on the Hill? I do believe that that's a problem. Until there is accountability, which means [5:16] you lose your job because of sexual harassment. And there could never be consent in that power [5:24] position, right? That you need to be both have a public accountability and then accountability in [5:32] the House rules. And this will make a difference, I think. The question of accountability is not over [5:37] because Swalwell and Gonzalez were not alone. You can see in this photo two other members of Congress, [5:43] Florida Democrat Sheila Scherfulis McCormick. The ethics committee has found that she fraudulently [5:48] kept and used hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID relief money. They are planning on issuing a [5:54] punishment for her in the next couple of weeks. And Republican Corey Mills of Florida, financial and [5:58] sexual misconduct charges. Both of them have said they are wrongly accused. Now, I'm not only six [6:04] members of Congress have ever been expelled in history, mostly because they're usually they get in a [6:09] position where they just resigned rather than face a two thirds vote. It's a hard, hard, high bar to expel them. [6:14] But this was in consideration. Meanwhile, I know you've been reporting on the ethics process, talking to current [6:19] and former staffers about that culture. What did they tell you it's like on the Hill right now? I have spoken to so many [6:25] current and former staffers today, senior, junior, former interns, everyone. And they all agree that after the Me Too [6:31] movement, which we covered, I think, well here on the PBS NewsHour on the Hill, there were changes. However, they think in recent [6:38] years, those changes have been ignored and have been rolled back. And what I heard was really the idea of a [6:44] culture that is a underlying subterranean, as one person called it, problem. Let's look quickly at the [6:49] system right now on the Hill for dealing with these ethics problems. Lawmakers and staff are required to [6:55] get sexual harassment training every year. Now, there are also multiple offices where misconduct can be [7:00] reported. But most of those offices can keep those investigations secret. And they take a long [7:07] time. Part of that is, of course, they want to be thorough. There is due process, of course, to members [7:12] and staff members who are accused. But there are many critics who say that's gone too far now, and that [7:17] it's protecting those who are doing the wrongdoing in this case. There are, of course, many professional [7:22] supportive offices in Congress. I don't want people to think that the entire place is dangerous. [7:27] However, I am convinced by my talks today that we really have seen a reckless, sometimes and often [7:33] careless, deepening culture of harm on Capitol Hill. Lisa Desjardins, great reporting as always. [7:39] Thank you. Welcome. Support journalism you trust. Support PBS News. Donate now, or even better, [7:59] start a monthly contribution today.