Rep. Eric Swalwell threatens defamation lawsuit against Alameda County DA Pamela Price

OAKLAND — East Bay Congressman Eric Swalwell’s attorneys threatened to sue Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price this week, claiming she defamed him while criticizing his decision to back her removal from office.

Swalwell’s attorneys gave Price an ultimatum to either retract her statements or face a defamation lawsuit over an early-October Facebook post that, they say, included “false and scurrilous attacks” against the congressman. Their demand was made in a letter dated Oct. 19 to the district attorney, which the office of Swalwell, D-Castro Valley, made public Thursday.

The letter gave Price a week to produce documents supporting her statements, which questioned whether Swalwell had anything to “hide” from his time as a prosecutor with the district attorney’s office from 2006 to 2012. Not doing so, the letter claimed, would “confirm that there were no factual bases for this deliberate campaign of disparagement of a highly respected public official and former assistant district attorney.”

“Your non-response was deafening,” the letter said, referencing an earlier request to retract the statement.

In a statement, Price’s campaign again criticized Swalwell’s attention on the recall effort that is before voters on Nov. 5.

“Our constituents would be better served if Congressman Swalwell focused less on trying to overturn the will of the voters and more on defending our democracy,” said the statement, which urged voters to not support the recall.

The letter by Swalwell’s attorneys marked the latest salvo in an ongoing clash between the two Democrats. They sparred on social media in May, when Swalwell called Price “soft” on crime and implored her to “Prosecute more. Tweet less.” Price responded by suggesting he only started complaining about crime “when Alameda County residents historically elected the first Black woman as District Attorney.”

On Oct. 2, Swalwell held a press conference to endorse recalling Price during the Nov. 5 election, saying the effort “is about putting a prosecutor and accountability back into place so we all can be safe.”

Price responded later that day with a lengthy message on her personal Facebook account, claiming Swalwell had “declared his allegiance to the Alameda County Republican Party by joining the undemocratic efforts to overturn the November election.”

She specifically mentioned an ongoing review of 35 cases, which was spurred by the discovery of notes detailing an alleged practice by Alameda County prosecutors to try to keep Jewish and Black residents off death penalty juries. While never directly accusing him of taking part in that alleged practice, Price’s post questioned whether Swalwell’s support for the recall was “an attempt to shield himself or his former colleagues from being implicated in these unethical practices?”

In their letter made public Thursday, Swalwell’s attorneys said they were “surprised and shocked” that Price did not immediately rescind her statements after the congressman asked her do so earlier this month.

They said that Price’s statement “raised the sinister implication that my client’s actions were motivated by a desire to ‘hide,’ something” according to the letter. Swalwell’s lawyers also took issue with other passages in Price’s post, including the district attorney’s assertion that the “truth would reveal uncomfortable connections.”

Swalwell has since been joined by Price’s predecessor and his former boss, Nancy O’Malley, in supporting the recall. Their endorsements have been in stark contrast to statements by other longtime local Democrats — including Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, and state Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley — who have called such votes “undemocratic.”