Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell is reaping what he sowed years after he demanded politicians “Believe Survivors” amid the Kavanaugh hearings.
Swalwell ended his bid for California governor and announced he is resigning from Congress after a former staffer accused him of engaging in sexual activity with her when she was too drunk to consent. He claims the allegations are false but didn’t want to be a distraction in Congress.
In 2018, though, Swalwell repeatedly demanded his Republican colleagues believe Christine Blasey Ford, who accused then Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were in high school.
“What rang of truth from Dr. Ford? A lot of it,” Swalwell tweeted in October 2018. “But her description of #Kavanaugh struggling to take her clothes off because she had a one-piece bathing suit on — that is clearly burned in her memory. And a fact only a survivor would remember. #BelieveSurvivors”
“Support survivors. Believe survivors. We are with you,” he tweeted in November 2018.
Swalwell also said that subsequent Kavanaugh accusers deserved to have their stories heard.
Few Democrats publicly called on Swalwell to resign, but Rep. Andy Ogles suggested Monday that there may have been a deal in the works to trade two Republican expulsions for Swalwell and another Democrat.
“I think Swalwell is almost certain to happen,” Ogles told Benny Johnson before Swalwell resigned, adding that the House could also remove Democratic Florida Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who is accused of breaking campaign finance laws, alongside Republican Florida Rep. Cory Mills, who is accused of assaulting a woman, and Republican Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales, who allegedly had an affair with a member of his staff before she died by self-immolation.
Mills allegedly previously refused to vote to censure Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar because he was worried Democrats would turn around and censure him. Yet again, Mills and Cherfilus-McCormick were spared. Gonzales announced he was resigning from Congress shortly after Swalwell.
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