Swalwell to resign from Congress amid sex abuse scandal

WASHINGTON (CN) — California Representative Eric Swalwell will resign from Congress rather than face a potentially bipartisan House vote to remove him from office, the lawmaker announced Monday evening.

In a statement, the Democrat representing the Golden State’s 14th Congressional District said he was “deeply sorry” for what he called “mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past.”

Swalwell, who until just a day ago was the favorite to win the Democratic nomination for the California governor’s race, is at the center of a sordid sexual misconduct scandal in which a former staffer has accused the congressman of assaulting her on multiple occasions. Several other women have also come forward with similar claims about the lawmaker.

The California congressman has denied accusations of sexual assault, and in his Monday statement said he would fight what he called a “serious, false allegation” made against him. However, Swalwell repeated that he would “take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make.” The lawmaker did not specify what those mistakes may have been.

Swalwell’s reported misconduct landed with a thud on Capitol Hill where both Democrats and Republicans pushed him to abandon his bid for California governor, which he did on Sunday. Several lawmakers, including a handful from his own party, said the Congressman should also resign from his seat entirely.

Swalwell’s planned departure from Congress comes as House Republicans were prepared this week to move ahead with a resolution expelling him from the lower chamber. The congressman said Monday that he was “aware” of a pending expulsion vote.

“Expelling anyone in Congress without due process, within days of an allegation being made, is wrong,” said Swalwell. “But it’s also wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties. Therefore I plan to resign my seat in Congress.”

The California Democrat did not say in his statement when he planned to leave office.

Swalwell’s resignation comes just hours after the House Ethics Committee announced it had opened a probe into the accusations against him.

Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna, leading the charge against Swalwell, gave the lawmaker 24 hours on Sunday to step down before she introduced an expulsion resolution. In her own statement Monday, Luna said Swalwell “did the right thing” by stepping aside but pushed back on his contention that it was wrong for members of Congress to advocate for his removal.

“[D]on’t you dare say there weren’t grounds for your expulsion because there absolutely were,” she wrote. “He made the correct decision, but there still needs to be a full-fledged criminal investigation. Based on what I’m hearing, he may go to jail.”

Luna did not elaborate on what conduct she believed might land Swalwell in prison.

Swalwell’s resignation closed the book on impending removal proceedings and an ethics investigation into his conduct. It also appeared to have a ripple effect, with a Republican lawmaker facing his own accusations of sexual misconduct announcing Monday he’d be stepping down from his office, as well.

Democrats had said that they would consider introducing an expulsion resolution this week against Texas Representative Tony Gonzales, who for months has been hounded by reports that he requested explicit photographs from former staffers, including one woman who later died by suicide.

In a post on social media platform X Monday, Gonzales said: “There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all. When Congress returns tomorrow, I will file my retirement from office. It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas.”

Gonzales, who represents Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, ended his reelection bid in March after he acknowledged a 2024 affair with former staffer Regina Santos-Aviles. The congressman reportedly requested explicit photographs from Santos-Aviles, who resisted his advances. The former staffer died by suicide in September after setting herself on fire outside her Uvalde, Texas, home.

New reports last week implicated Gonzales in a similar relationship with another former employee who worked on his 2020 campaign.

Before Swalwell and Gonzales announced their resignations, it appeared Congress was on track to remove both lawmakers. Two-thirds of Congress must support an expulsion resolution in order to remove a lawmaker from the chamber.

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