Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., announced he was planning to resign from Congress following sexual misconduct allegations, leading top Senate Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., to praise the decision.
Meanwhile, Republicans are questioning how much top Democrats knew before the final ball dropped Monday with Swalwell’s resignation, which came just days after he suspended his California gubernatorial campaign.
Swalwell said Monday that he was “deeply sorry” to his family, staff and constituents for his “mistakes,” but stood headstrong in calling the sexual misconduct and abuse allegations against him “false.”
“I am aware of efforts to bring an immediate expulsion vote against me and other members,” Swalwell said in his announcement. “Expelling anyone from Congress without due process, within days of an allegation being made, is wrong. But, it’s also wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties. Therefore, I plan to resign my seat in Congress.”
“It was a good decision,” added Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., when asked about Swalwell’s resignation. “You don’t have to be a rocket science to figure that out. It’s terrible – what has been alleged.”
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., reportedly told CNN that he thought Swalwell made the right decision.
Swalwell’s decision to resign keeps Democrats from having to vote on a contentious resolution to expel Swalwell, which was expected to happen if he had not resigned.
“With a criminal investigation in the works, the move will avoid the need to answer questions immediately in an ethics investigation that might present legal dangers,” George Washington University professor and Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley pointed out. “Few defense attorneys would relish a client responding to an open-ended ethics investigation when the outcome seems likely expulsion.”
When asked whether she had requested Swalwell resign, Pelosi reportedly responded, “Oh, I think that was his decision. I think it’s a smart decision to make,” according to Politico reporter Riley Rogerson.
Furthermore, when asked whether she had any previous idea about the sexual misconduct allegations, Pelosi responded, “none whatsoever,” Rogerson also noted. Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., a longtime friend and colleague of Arizona who faced heat for defending him, said minutes before Swalwell’s resignation that he “had no knowledge of the allegations of assault, harassment, and predatory behavior against Eric Swalwell.”
Warren, who ran against Swalwell during the pairs’ bids for the presidency, said she is “glad that [Swalwell] will be gone,” adding that “people who are in positions of power and authority over others need to be held accountable when they take advantage of that position.”
Within an hour after Swalwell’s announcement that he would resign, one of Swalwell’s colleagues in the House of Representatives, Rep. Tony Gonzalez, R-Texas, followed suit and resigned as well amid similar allegations of sexual improprieties.
“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 said.
Gonzalez last month said he would not run for reelection, so it is uncertain what may change. If Gonzalez and Swalwell left tomorrow, the slim margin in the House between Republicans and Democrats would not change.
Republican reactions to Swalwell’s resignation Monday mirrored the praise from Democrats. Republican frontrunner in the California gubernatorial race Steve Hilton also slammed “career politicians” for letting Swalwell “get away with it.”
“Of course Eric Swalwell had to drop out of the California governor’s race. The question is, why was he ever in it, knowing he had all this going on?” Hilton told Fox News Digital.
“First smart thing he’s done,” said Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who added that Gonzales “needs to follow his lead” right before he actually did.
“Eric, you did the right thing by resigning. However, don’t you dare say there weren’t grounds for your expulsion, because there absolutely were,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said after Swalwell’s announcement he would be resigning. “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.”
Other Republicans questioned how much Democrats knew before the allegations of sexual misconduct became public against Swalwell.
“The mainstream media doesn’t attack a Democrat unless it helps a separate Democrat. It’s axiomatic. The Swalwell episode proves that in technicolor,” John Ashbrook, a co-host of the “Ruthless” podcast told Fox News Digital. “If he wasn’t jeopardizing their party’s ability to hold the California Governor’s mansion, none of them would have said a word.”
“Eric Swalwell should’ve been removed from Congress long ago, yet Democrats rallied around him over and over even after it was shown he was compromised by a Chinese spy,” added Republican strategist Mark Bednar, who has worked for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and current Transportation Secretary and former Congressman Sean Duffy. “The real questions for Democrats close to him are what did they know, when did they know it, and will they question then-Speaker Pelosi’s judgment regarding Swalwell’s committee assignments?”
Hilton echoed Bednar’s questions about how much top Democrats knew.
“Machine politicians and unions that endorsed Swalwell and threw money at him — they knew about his past. It was an open secret on Capitol Hill and Sacramento. Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, the teacher unions, SEIU — they are all totally full of it with their fake outrage and condemnation,” Hilton told Fox News Digital. “California is ruled by a corrupt Democrat elite that is collapsing into chaos, sleaze and scandal. That’s why the Swalwell stand-ins that they send to run against me in the general election, whether it’s Katie Porter or Tom Steyer, will be no better.”