California: Eric Swalwell staffers quit after new sexual assault allegations

California gubernatorial candidate Eric Swalwell’s campaign suffered a major blow on Friday as several staffers resigned and prominent political leaders withdrew their support in the wake of multiple allegations of past sexual misconduct.The San Francisco Chronicle published an account of a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by Swalwell on two separate occasions.The woman said she was a former employee for Swalwell, a sitting congressman who has represented the East Bay area since 2013. The woman, who the newspaper did not name, said she had sexual encounters with Swalwell while he was her boss, and alleged he sexually assaulted her when she was too intoxicated to consent. The Guardian has not independently confirmed the allegations.Swalwell said: “For nearly 20 years, I have served the public – as a prosecutor and a congressman and have always protected women. I will defend myself with the facts and where necessary bring legal action. My focus in the coming days is to be with my wife and children and defend our decades of service against these lies.”Three other women alleged sexual misconduct by the Democratic congressman in interviews with CNN. Swalwell denied those allegations as well.Swalwell’s campaign did not respond to questions from The Guardian.The reports came days after posts had circulated social media, claiming that a groundswell of women would go public with accounts of inappropriate behavior they had experienced from Swalwell.At a town hall in Sacramento earlier this week, Swalwell disavowed the online discourse as “false” and suggested the posts were timed intentionally to derail his campaign.Swalwell had been a frontrunner in a crowded Democratic race to succeed Gavin Newsom.He has been a fierce opponent of Donald Trump on the cable news circuit.Three campaign employees, including former adviser Courtni Pugh, confirmed to Politico that they had exited Swalwell’s campaign.California senator Adam Schiff, one of the most prominent members of Congress to back Swalwell, said on Friday he was rescinding his endorsement immediately, and called on him to withdraw from the race.Arizona senator Ruben Gallego, a personal friend of Swalwell, who had days ago defended the congressman against the allegations swirling online, also pulled his endorsement.“What is described is indefensible. Women who come forward with accounts like this deserve to be heard with respect, not questioned or dismissed,” Gallego said in a Friday statement. Gallego added that he regretted having come to Swalwell’s defense “prior to knowing all the information”.The former speaker of the California state assembly and a Democratic rival in the governor’s race, Antonio Villaraigosa, called upon Swalwell to exit the governor’s race and withdraw from Congress.“Eric Swalwell’s attempt to silence victims to save his campaign for governor – a campaign he was unfit to enter given these allegations – is a shameful disgrace to our democracy,” Villaraigosa said.