California representative resigning from Congress over sexual assault allegations but has insisted they are untrue and pledged to ‘fight them with everything that I have’
A woman who accused California Democratic Rep.
Eric Swalwell of sexual assault has criticized his decision to run for governor of the state, saying he should never have campaigned “knowing the kind of history and receipts that are out there.”
The misconduct allegations against Swalwell were first published by The San Francisco Chronicle and CNN last Friday, prompting him to dismiss them in a social media video as “absolutely false,” insisting the incidents alleged “never happened,” and pledging to “fight them with everything that I have.”
He has since announced he is abandoning his bid for the governor’s mansion and is resigning from Congress after the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office opened an investigation into the claims against him.
Three of the women who have come forward to accuse Swalwell – Cheyenne Hunt, Annika Albrecht, and Ally Sammarco – have now given an interview to CBS News’ Nancy Cordes, in which they were asked whether they consider the Democrat’s sudden downfall justice.
“No, it’s just the beginning,” Hunt answered Cordes in a preview of their exchange published prior to broadcast.
“It’s just the very beginning, and I know personally that we’re not walking away from this fight.”
“For me justice won’t be until he can’t ever harm a woman ever again and he has faced the consequences for the women that he has harmed,” said Albrecht.
“I think, in regards to the governor’s race, he never should have run for governor to begin with knowing the kind of history and receipts that are out there,” Sammarco said.
“So that’s a non-starter and then, in terms of Congress , I think he absolutely should have resigned.
“I think we just prevented another 30 to 40 years, potentially, of him harming people if he were to stay in Congress so, in that sense, I think we have served justice for his future victims that won’t exist anymore.”
Sammarco also said she felt “vindicated” by Swalwell having to respond to their accusations.
“We didn’t know each other before,” Sammarco said.
“I didn’t know any of the other women.
I knew nothing about them.
We got connected through this process, and I’m so glad we did.”
Albrecht explained that the process began when she reached out to Hunt, a friend and social media influencer, to ask her about posting a video of her allegations against Swalwell because, she said, she felt “physically sick and nauseous” about the prospect of him becoming California’s next governor.
“Eleven days is how long it took from when I reached out to her to make the video to when the dam broke and all the articles were published,” Albrecht said, calling them “the longest 11 days of our lives.”
She said they were “immediately slammed” by messages from other women making allegations against Swalwell, many of which appeared to follow a similar pattern to their own experiences.
“He thought he was untouchable,” Sammarco said of the outgoing congressman.
“He acted with total impunity.
He never thought that the consequences of his actions would follow him.”
"As governor, he would have had even more power and more authority.
And he would have felt vindicated too, you know, that he could run for higher office.
“He ran for president [in 2019] and nothing came out about him.
So I think that empowered him to continue doing what he was doing.”
Later in the same interview, she said of Swalwell: “He gave off this perception that he was a family man.
That he was a fighter.
That he was a defender of women.
And that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“If these are the people that are out there championing women and, you know, protectors of women, and ‘We need to hold people accountable,’ and then behind closed doors they're doing this, that is a huge discrepancy for anybody who’s working in politics.
Rainn offers support for those affected by rape and sexual abuse.
You can call Rainn on 800-656-HOPE (4673)
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Source: This article was originally published by The Independent
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