Anger swells after Swalwell's 'open secret' with women went unreported for years

Numerous reports from journalists and political operatives suggesting the alleged sexual misconduct of former Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., was an open secret that long went unreported have prompted consternation and anger.

Swalwell, who until earlier this month was a top candidate for governor of California, saw his career fall apart in the span of a week after a flood of sexual misconduct allegations, including claims of rape and sexual assault. 

He suspended his campaign, resigned from Congress and admitted "mistakes" while denying the more serious charges against him.

Swalwell was a prominent House member for over a decade, particularly since President Donald Trump's first term began, and he became one of the faces of the "resistance."

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In December 2025, Democratic strategist Michael Trujillo warned of Swalwell’s skeletons in a now-deleted social media post.

"I guess Swalwell can enjoy today, but folks know he slept with many of his interns while married, sexually harassed others while engaged, has a ton of weird texts late at night saved on former interns' phones still, he gets he will have to answer for this later on during the campaign, right? Endorse at your own peril people," Trujillo wrote.

Trujillo later said he deleted the post after receiving a cease and desist letter from Swalwell’s campaign. But his stark warning to Democrats that it was dangerous to endorse Swalwell’s bid for governor came to fruition this week when multiple women came forward.

Swalwell is now facing a string of accusations, including that he drugged and raped one woman and sexually assaulted one of his staffers, which have spurred at least two local criminal investigations. The accusations, which he has largely denied, have resulted in an onslaught of questions about who may have known about the alleged scandalous behavior.

Swalwell in part boosted his career as a ubiquitous cable news guest, making hundreds of appearances on CNN and MS NOW — previously MSNBC — while in Congress. He was a particularly strong proponent of the Russiagate "collusion" theory and made a brief 2020 presidential bid, in part based on his TV presence.

Trujillo claimed reporters were working to confirm rumors about Swalwell back in 2020, but "energy disappeared to potentially take him out" once he dropped out of that year's crowded Democratic presidential race.

Cheyenne Hunt, a Democratic Gen Z activist who helped put a spotlight on allegations against Swalwell with a series of viral videos, also bluntly stated that allegations had been floating around Capitol Hill.

"I had heard these rumors for years," Hunt said on TikTok before Swalwell’s political career imploded.

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Politico’s California bureau chief and senior politics reporter teamed up for a piece headlined, "The whisper network that caught up to Eric Swalwell," that noted the Democrat "had developed a reputation for unsavory and sometimes unwanted behavior toward women."

"Those warnings were shared in whisper networks but rarely traveled outside the circle of political insiders," Politico reported in the piece that credits Trujillo, Hunt and Arielle Fodor, known as "Mrs. Frazzled" on social media, for finally bringing the allegations to light.

Many others have also suggested Swalwell's behavior was an "open secret" once his political career began to unravel.

"It was an open secret that he had issues with women, that he was somebody who was susceptible, potentially to heavy drinking, to impropriety with women," "The View" co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said this week.

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Journalist Yashar Ali responded to a social media post criticizing "every Democrat" for renouncing Swalwell without a smoking gun by declaring, "It’s because they’ve all known for years."

One reporter wrote she didn't work to report certain rumors because "MeToo stories on the Hill aren't related to my beat."

Heritage Foundation media fellow Tim Young believes reporting from The San Francisco Chronicle and CNN that exposed Swalwell's alleged behavior was pushed by Democrats to "get him out of the gubernatorial primary before the damage became irreversible."

"The bottom line is that media not only skews left but is a part of the Democrat machine. They cover for ‘open secrets’ about behavior of people they support, then turn on them when they get marching orders," Young told Fox News Digital.

The Washington Post published a story, "How Eric Swalwell rose to the top of Democratic politics as rumors followed him," that reported the ex-lawmaker "was dogged by persistent rumors of inappropriate behavior toward women" but thrived because the Democratic Party was "enamored with a young congressman’s talent for sound bites and landing blows against President Donald Trump."

The Post added that many are wondering how Swalwell "could have risen so high and so fast in a party that says it supports women’s rights." A San Francisco Chronicle article Friday noted the "stunningly fast fall from grace for a rising star in the Democratic Party, which many close allies and people who knew Swalwell are still trying to make sense of."

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Conservative pundit Stephen L. Miller offered a suggestion for the Post on his "Versus Media" podcast.

"I know where the Washington Post can start. It involves a mirror," Miller said.

"The piece goes on to kind of profile his rise in Congress, saying he became good friends with Nancy Pelosi right off the bat," Miller continued. "That’s probably why The Washington Post decided not to follow up with any of these rumors for over six years."

Reporting on sexual misconduct by powerful figures has always been a struggle, however. Media defenders note the difficulties of women coming forward to make sensitive accusations and recalling such painful experiences.

In 2017, CNN reported that "more than half a dozen interviewees independently named one California congressman for pursuing female staffers." CNN did not name the lawmaker because the claims were "unverified." CNN has not verified that the line referred to Swalwell, but one of the article's reporters, MJ Lee, posted the story to X on Tuesday.

Nine years later, CNN’s Brian Stelter was roasted on Monday for declaring that Swalwell ending his bid for California governor is "a testament to the power of investigative reporting."

The Hill columnist T. Becket Adams quipped, "And all it took was seven terms in Congress and about a half-dozen victims for investigative journalists to break the news of behavior apparently everyone knew about."

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Journalist Drew Holden responded, "So powerful, in fact, that multiple reporters waited over a decade to say anything about Swalwell’s misconduct."

"We've now had multiple reporters come out and say Swalwell's behavior was an open secret since at least 2017. So, no, this is not a testament to the power of investigative reporting. If anything, it is a failure of investigative reporting," radio host Erick Erickson reacted.

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Oliver contributed to this report.