House committee probing Rep. Eric Swalwell for ethics violations
The House Ethics Committee on Monday launched an investigation into Rep. Eric Swalwell, a day after he dropped out of the California governor’s race following accusations that he sexually assaulted a former staffer on two occasions.
On Friday, CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle published accounts that the East Bay Democrat raped a staff member who worked in his Castro Valley district office in 2019, and again in 2024 after she had left the job.
Swalwell called the sexual misconduct accusations against him “flat false” and has threatened legal action against at least two alleged victims, sending them cease-and-desist letters via his attorney, Elias Dabaie.
However, Swalwell’s campaign quickly collapsed as staff members resigned and allies from organized labor to congressional Democrats yanked their support.
In a Sunday X post, Swalwell said he was suspending his campaign and apologized for past “mistakes in judgment.”
The ethics committee said in a news release it would probe whether Swalwell violated the congressional Code of Official Conduct, which bars House members from having sex with a subordinate. More than 50 former staff from his congressional office and short-lived presidential campaign came out in support of the woman he reportedly assaulted. They urged him to resign from office and step down from the race in which he had been a leading candidate.
Swalwell now faces potential expulsion from office, after Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Florida, said she would introduce a motion to oust him and Florida Reps. Tony Gonzales and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick when the House reconvenes Tuesday.
Swalwell’s Washington, D.C. office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He also faces criminal investigations by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and Alameda County District Attorney’s office.
Gonzales, a Republican, admitted to an affair with a staffer who later died after setting herself on fire. Cherfilus-McCormick was recently found guilty by the ethics committee in a rare hearing of multiple violations after illegally funneling money to her campaign.
This story was originally published April 13, 2026 at 11:22 AM with the headline "House committee probing Rep. Eric Swalwell for ethics violations."
