Eric Swalwell is stepping away from Congress. The California congressman announced he will give up his House seat after sexual assault allegations surfaced, and his decision landed amid a day that already felt overloaded with politics, protests, and hot-button fights.
In a statement posted on social media, Swalwell said he was “deeply sorry” to his family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment he believes he made in the past. He also said he will “fight the serious false allegation made against” him, while still taking responsibility for what he described as mistakes he did make. That balance—denying the core allegation but owning up to parts of his conduct—was echoed in the way he criticized calls to expel him from Congress.
He said expelling anyone from Congress without due process, within days of an allegation being made, is “wrong.” But he added another piece that hits like a refrain in his post: it’s also wrong, he said, for constituents to have him “distracted from” his duties. That argument—due process and accountability at once—has been getting tested all day by other Democrats pushing for a tougher line.
Senator Ruben Gallego, a close personal friend of Swalwell, called on Congress to expel him. Gallego said he supports the ethics committee’s investigation and believes Swalwell is no longer fit to serve, adding that he should be expelled. Gallego also said he had no knowledge of the allegations of assault, harassment, and predatory behavior against Swalwell, and that he trusted someone he believed was a friend. The rebuke came not long after Gallego withdrew his endorsement of Swalwell in the congressman’s bid to become the next governor of California.
Behind all of this, the House ethics committee announced it has launched an investigation into Swalwell, after reported allegations of inappropriate behavior, sexual assault and rape. The committee said it will examine allegations Swalwell “may have engaged in sexual misconduct, including towards an employee working under his supervision”. A former staffer had said the representative sexually assaulted her twice when she was too inebriated to consent, according to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle—Misryoum newsroom reported on the same set of details in the day’s roundup.
And while the Swalwell story was unfolding, lawmakers were juggling other combustible issues. Congressional leaders criticized Donald Trump for attacking Pope Leo XIV, with Senate majority leader John Thune saying, “I would leave the church alone.” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer had firmer words. Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers pushed forward plans for a war powers resolution aimed at curbing U.S. military action in Iran—this would be the fourth time lawmakers consider such a resolution since the Iran war began. Protesters in New York City took to the streets near senators’ offices; Misryoum newsroom noted that almost 100 people were arrested at a demonstration calling on senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand to block the sale of US bombs to Israel.
Even the day’s physical texture felt political: outside an office in New York, people were chanting and chanting again, and at some point you could almost hear the city’s noise mix with the chants—like the air itself couldn’t decide what story to carry. Oil prices, too, slid after briefly rising above $100 a barrel as Trump claimed Iran had made contact and wanted “very badly” to strike a deal, then later said a blockade had come into force and that Iranians got in touch. Somewhere between those headlines, the bigger picture kept moving—Trump’s feud with the pope, the war powers push, and now Swalwell’s exit—looping back to the same question, really: what counts as justice fast enough, and what counts as procedure that can survive anger.
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