The House Ethics Committee announced Monday that it has opened an investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations against Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif.
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The committee’s leaders said in a statement that they would review whether he “violated the Code of Official Conduct or any law, rule, regulation, or other applicable standard of conduct in the performance of his duties or the discharge of his responsibilities, with respect to allegations that he may have engaged in sexual misconduct, including towards an employee working under his supervision.”
A former Swalwell staffer alleged in a San Francisco Chronicle article and in an interview with CNN that she had several sexual encounters with the congressman while she worked in his office. She accused Swalwell of sexually assaulting her twice, saying she was too intoxicated to consent. NBC News has not verified her allegations. Several other women who spoke to CNN also accused Swalwell of engaging in sexual misconduct.
Swalwell’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In a video on Friday, he called the sexual assault allegations “flat false… they did not happen, they have never happened.”
The Manhattan district attorney’s office said Saturday that it had opened an investigation into one of the sexual assault allegations against Swalwell.
Swalwell, 45, dropped his gubernatorial bid in California on Sunday night. He said that while he had made “mistakes in judgment” in the past, he would “fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s.”
Several lawmakers, including some Democrats, have urged him to resign from Congress as well or face expulsion.
The Democratic congressman, who has served in the House since 2013, faces the possibility of being expelled from Congress. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said Saturday on X that she planned to bring a motion to the House floor to expel him. It would need a two-thirds vote in favor to pass.
The situation has spurred discussion in the House about expelling other members of Congress as well, including Reps. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, who admitted to having an affair with a staffer who later killed herself, and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., who was found guilty in a House ethics probe of allegations she stole millions in federal relief funds and funneled some of that to her congressional campaign. She also faces related federal charges.
Only six members have been expelled from the House, with Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., being the most recent in Dec. 2023, and three of whom were removed because of disloyalty to the Union and fighting for the Confederacy during the Civil War.