Exclusive: Four women describe sexual misconduct by Rep. Eric Swalwell, including a former staffer who says he raped her

By Allison Gordon, Isabelle Chapman, Casey Tolan, Pamela Brown, CNN

(CNN) — A former staffer of Rep. Eric Swalwell, a leading Democratic candidate for California governor, says that the congressman raped her when she was heavily intoxicated and left her bruised and bleeding, an allegation Swalwell strongly denies.

“I was pushing him off of me, saying no,” the woman told CNN of the incident, which she said happened in 2024 after she had stopped working in Swalwell’s office. “He didn’t stop.”

She said it was the second time Swalwell had nonconsensual sexual contact with her while she was drunk. In 2019, when she was still working for him, she said she woke up naked with him in a hotel room after a night of heavy drinking. She said she had no memory of what happened but could feel physically that they’d had sexual contact.

Three other women who spoke with CNN also alleged various kinds of sexual misconduct by the Democratic congressman – including Swalwell sending them unsolicited explicit messages or nude photos.

One woman who connected online with Swalwell over her interest in Democratic politics says she ended up extremely drunk inside his hotel room after a night out with the congressman, with little memory of what occurred. Earlier in the night at a bar, he kissed her and touched her leg without her consent, she said.

Another woman, who described receiving unsolicited nude messages from Swalwell, was social media creator Ally Sammarco. She said she initially reached out to the congressman on Twitter to discuss politics. “I truly never thought he would respond – I had like 1,000 followers at the time,” she said. “And he actually responded.”

Swalwell denied the women’s allegations.

“These allegations are false and come on the eve of an election against the front-runner for governor,” Swalwell said in a statement to CNN. “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.”

An attorney for Swalwell sent two of the women CNN spoke with cease-and-desist letters on Thursday, a day after CNN first reached out to his campaign to request comment, according to copies of the letters they provided CNN. The letters called the women’s accounts “false,” ordered them to retract their statements and warned of potential legal action if they continue speaking out.

The letters said the women’s claims were “undermined” by their “voluntary and cooperative relationship with Mr. Swalwell over the course of many years” following the alleged incidents, including the former staffer asking him for job references.

His attorney also sent CNN a letter denying that Swalwell has ever had nonconsensual sex with any woman or ever had sexual relations with any member of his staff.

One member of Swalwell’s staff said they quit immediately after receiving CNN’s detailed list of questions about the allegations.

CNN found corroboration for key elements of each of the women’s claims, including the former staffer who said she was sexually assaulted. Two family members and a friend said in interviews with CNN that she told them about the alleged 2024 assault in the following days, and CNN also reviewed text messages she sent two friends describing her allegations at the same time. “I was sexually assaulted on Thursday,” she wrote to one of her friends, adding: “By Eric.”

The woman also shared medical records related to her receiving STD and pregnancy testing after the alleged assault.

For the woman who connected online with Swalwell over Democratic politics, a family member and two friends confirmed she told them last year about the incident where she ended up intoxicated in his hotel room. CNN also reviewed messages between her and Swalwell, including a photo he sent her that matches footage of him during a CNN interview in her city on the night they met in person.

The women described a similar pattern of events: Swalwell, who is married and has three children, showed close interest in their lives when they were in their twenties and finding their footing professionally, making them feel special and even starstruck. Then, they said, he would send them increasingly sexual messages. Many said they reciprocated and engaged with him in part because of his position of power. In some cases, those inappropriate exchanges escalated to alleged unwanted physical touch or sexual assault, often tied to episodes of heavy drinking.

The women asked not to be named out of fear of retaliation by Swalwell or professional consequences for speaking out against him.

CNN reviewed screenshots of dozens of messages Swalwell exchanged with the women, many of which are flirtatious in nature. None of the messages reviewed by CNN are sexually explicit. The women said Swalwell generally sent more graphic messages via Snapchat, where messages are automatically deleted after short periods of time. Snapchat also warns senders if screenshots are captured.

The allegations come as Swalwell – a congressman from the San Francisco Bay Area, former presidential candidate, and fixture on cable news – has ascended in the polls in California’s competitive governor’s race.

Rumors about misbehavior by Swalwell have circulated on social media in recent weeks, broadcast by a group of progressive social media influencers. Most of the women who spoke to CNN initially reached out to one of these influencers, and said that before the social media attention, they had assumed they were alone in their experiences with Swalwell.

Three key influencers told CNN that they were not being paid by other campaigns and had not coordinated directly with them in publicizing claims about Swalwell.

“This has always been about getting justice for these women and exposing the truth,” said Cheyenne Hunt, a lawyer and former congressional candidate who has shared messages highlighting allegations about Swalwell on social media.

CNN also spoke to other women who worked for Swalwell and said that they had never had any inappropriate interactions with him, with some of them describing him as a supportive and caring boss.

But several of the women who made allegations about Swalwell said that the congressman’s actions had long-term implications on their lives, leaving them confused, distraught and scared. They said they decided to come forward after hearing rumors that they were not alone in their experiences with the congressman.

“I always felt like if I came forward, I was going to suffer the consequences because he was so powerful,” the former staffer who accused Swalwell of assaulting her said, adding, “I’ve lived in fear every single day.”

‘It just became a secret that I lived with’

The former Swalwell staffer said she started interning for him in 2019 when she was 20 years old, before she graduated from college. At the time, Swalwell was a rising star in the Democratic party. A former prosecutor who had defeated a 40-year incumbent to win his suburban San Francisco Bay Area congressional seat, Swalwell made a name for himself as a member of the House Intelligence Committee and an outspoken opponent of President Donald Trump.

In April 2019, Swalwell launched an underdog presidential bid, pitching himself as a generational change agent. Inspired by his focus on gun control, the woman moved to California to join Swalwell’s campaign as a junior staffer. “I just believed in what he had to offer so much,” she said.

After Swalwell dropped out of the presidential race in July 2019, she moved to a job in his district office.

As the woman, who was by then 21, began to work more closely with Swalwell, planning events, arranging his travel, and driving him around his district, he struck up a personal relationship with her. She said that Swalwell, who was 38, praised her work in the office, bringing her to meetings and introducing her to political figures.

“When he talked to you, it was like the sun was shining on you,” she said. “You felt like the coolest person in the room.”

The two began messaging each other on Snapchat, she said. On that platform, she said, Swalwell began making sexual comments and sent her photos of his penis and of him shirtless. He also asked her to send him photos of herself, including nude photos, which she did. She said she found the attention flattering, but also felt nervous because he was her boss.

The woman’s mother told CNN that her daughter told her some months later that Swalwell was communicating with her over Snapchat, and she and her husband found it inappropriate. But the woman didn’t tell her parents at that time that the messages were sexual, the mother said.

Because the messages on Snapchat were automatically deleted, she said she has no screenshots of their exchanges on the app.

“There was Eric the Snapchatting guy, and then there was Eric my boss,” the former staffer said. “It was like two different people completely.”

In 2019, when she was driving Swalwell around his district as part of her staff duties, he told her to stop in a parking lot, pulled out his penis, and asked her to give him oral sex, she said. She said she briefly complied, before stopping and telling Swalwell she was uncomfortable.

“He said to me, ‘You’re right, it’s probably not good for a congressman to be caught with his pants down,’” she told CNN.

In September 2019, she was alone with Swalwell at a bar in his district after a casual gathering with staffers, she said. “I was really, really drunk,” she said.

She said she remembers getting an Uber, and then the next thing she remembered, she woke up in Swalwell’s hotel room the following morning, naked in bed with him.

“I know that there was sexual contact because when I woke up in the morning, I could feel that there was,” she said. Swalwell told her that “last night was great” but she should get going, she said.

That day, she was scheduled to accompany Swalwell to a “hike with your congressman” event at a local park; a listing for the event appears on Swalwell’s congressional Facebook page. At the event, she remembered, “I could still feel physically what had happened to me,” but she said Swalwell ignored her, treating her like “someone who he had never seen before in his life.”

Later on Snapchat, she said, Swalwell was much friendlier, telling her how nice their sexual encounter was. “I said to him, ‘I really don’t remember it at all,’” she said. “And he was like, ‘Well, next time, we have to make sure you remember it.’”

The former staffer said that she didn’t tell anyone about either of the incidents with Swalwell at the time. “I just felt so dirty and gross, and it just became a secret that I lived with,” she said. She said it wasn’t clear to her at the time that she had been sexually assaulted, but that she later realized that the encounter was not consensual because she had been so intoxicated.

Swalwell gradually began Snapchatting her less frequently, she said. She moved to a new job in Swalwell’s Washington, DC, office, and left for a new job about a year later. But Swalwell stayed in touch with her, she said, recommending her for jobs and messaging with her from time to time. The former staffer said she tried to stay in touch with Swalwell because of his status as a congressman.

Then in April 2024, when the former staffer was 25, Swalwell was invited to speak at a gala in New York City that she attended. CNN reviewed video of Swalwell’s speech at the event, and a photo of the woman there. The woman said she decided to get drinks with Swalwell because he was a powerful person in her field.

The two got drinks at Swalwell’s hotel and a nearby bar, and Swalwell was totally professional, she said. Federal campaign spending records show that Swalwell’s congressional campaign frequently made purchases at both locations she named.

After the gala, she said she met up with some colleagues and then sent Swalwell a Snapchat message inviting him to get another drink. One of the colleagues she was with told CNN that she told them at the time that she was going to get a drink with Swalwell. The colleague asked not to be named.

When Swalwell came in a car to pick her up, he put his hand on her leg. “I said, ‘No funny business, like, that’s not what this is,’” she remembered. “And he was like, ‘Okay, okay.’”

But then over drinks, Swalwell told the former staffer that he’d been obsessed with her and he’d never cheated on his wife except with her, she said. “I guess I liked the attention, but I never wanted to sleep with him,” she remembered.

As the night progressed, she said, the two went to another bar and continued drinking. She said she was heavily intoxicated and doesn’t remember leaving the bar.

The next thing the former staffer remembered, she was in bed with Swalwell in his hotel room and he was having sex with her, she said. She said she remembers “flashes of that evening, of him on top of me, me pushing him off, him grabbing me.”

“I was pushing him off of me, saying no,” she said. “He didn’t stop.”

The former staffer woke up in Swalwell’s hotel room the next morning alone and “completely confused,” she said. She had been wearing a dress she needed someone else to zip, so she wrapped herself in a blanket, ran out of the hotel, and took the first cab she saw back to her own hotel, she said. She said she quickly called her mother, who confirmed her account in an interview with CNN.

“My vagina was bleeding the next day after the sex, I had cuts and bruises on my body,” she said. When she looked in the mirror later, “I could see the bruises of where his hand had been on my rib cage and on my legs and near my thighs,” she remembered.

Swalwell messaged her on Snapchat that day saying that the previous night was great and that he hoped she remembered it this time, and telling her not to tell anyone, she said.

She told her partner that Swalwell had assaulted her when she returned home that day, her partner confirmed in an interview with CNN, saying that “she was just so distraught.” She also told two other friends about being assaulted by Swalwell over the following days, according to screenshots of text messages she shared with CNN and an interview with one of the friends. In both text message chains, she referred to the same thing happening to her in the past, writing in one message, “this happened one other time when I was working for him… same pattern: I blacked out and he had sex with me.” Her partner, mother and friend asked not to be named.

Several days later, she went to a health clinic and got an STD test, and provided screenshots showing that appointment to CNN. She said she told her medical provider that she had been assaulted by a congressman, and the provider at the clinic referred to her as “a survivor” in an online message about her test results, a screenshot shows.

She said she never confronted Swalwell directly about the assault or reported it to the police in part because she believed him when he told her he hadn’t made sexual advances toward other women.

“I kept figuring out ways to blame myself: I shouldn’t have reached out to him at all, I should have left, I should have done this,” she said. “Well, Eric shouldn’t have raped me.”

In February, as his campaign for governor was picking up steam, Swalwell and his campaign manager both texted her, offering her work for his campaign, screenshots she provided to CNN show. She declined.

“I’ve always lived with a huge secret,” she said. “I’m not speaking up because I’m looking to ruin Eric Swalwell. The only person who could ruin Eric Swalwell is Eric Swalwell.”

‘All you did was harm me’

Another woman, who had an interest in Democratic politics, said she began messaging with Swalwell online in 2025 after responding to one of his Instagram stories, joking that she might run for office herself. A couple days later, she said, Swalwell followed her and encouraged her to get involved in politics. He later sent her his phone number.

The woman and Swalwell began texting over several weeks, including late at night, discussing politics and their previous work experience as bartenders, screenshots of messages she shared with CNN show. She said she was shocked that a congressman was paying her attention. “I kind of almost felt like I was getting catfished,” she said.

In spring 2025, Swalwell said he happened to be coming to her city and asked to meet. He asked for her suggestions for a hotel and places to go, the messages show.

Swalwell and the woman met for dinner and drinks at a steakhouse. She said she told her mother about the meeting with Swalwell in advance, and her mother confirmed that in an interview with CNN. Swalwell asked her about her work history in what seemed almost like a job interview, she recalled.

Partway through their conversation, Swalwell told her that he had to do a CNN interview, and went back to his hotel room. As he was waiting for his live TV hit, Swalwell texted her a photo asking her how he looked, according to a screenshot she provided to CNN. That photo matched Swalwell’s appearance in the interview, and Swalwell also told the CNN anchor that he was visiting the city where the woman lived, according to CNN’s recording.

Afterward, Swalwell took the woman to another bar, where they sat in a back booth, she said. “He was sitting against me, and so I kind of moved away from him, and every time that I would move away from him, he would get closer to me,” she remembered. He touched her leg and ordered a drink for her.

The woman said she tried to turn the conversation to her partner and Swalwell’s wife and children, but Swalwell continued to touch her. She began to get more intoxicated and felt “really fuzzy,” even accidentally walking into the men’s bathroom in the bar, she said.

After she returned to the booth, Swalwell kissed her, she said. “I was shocked that he would do that right in the middle of a public bar,” she said. She said she told him it was wrong, but didn’t want to burn a bridge with a prominent congressman, so she stayed at the bar even as she was getting more intoxicated.

The woman said she then ended up in Swalwell’s hotel room without any memory of how she got there. She said that her memory of what happened in Swalwell’s hotel room is “a blur.” She ended up leaving the hotel at 5:41 a.m., according to a screenshot of an Uber receipt she provided to CNN.

The next day, she said, Swalwell sent her disappearing iPhone voice messages saying that he wanted to ensure that his wife didn’t find out about what happened, she said.

She felt emotionally vulnerable and distraught in the following weeks, she said, telling her mother about a month after the fact about what had happened, and later telling two close friends. All three confirmed to CNN in interviews that she had shared her story with them. One friend said that she told them about her experience with Swalwell in December 2025, while the other said she could not remember when specifically she was told.

She said she told Swalwell that she felt “really disgusted and ashamed” about what happened, but he continued contacting her, including offering to use his position to help her renew her passport or saying he could write her a letter of recommendation for her law school applications.

A few days before he announced his gubernatorial bid in November, he texted her, asking how she was, according to screenshots she provided to CNN. The following month, she sent him a long message telling him that “all you did was harm me,” and asking him not to contact her again.

“I won’t bother you again!” Swalwell responded. “Sorry.”

The woman said she continued to stay in touch with Swalwell after that, however, exchanging some friendly messages with him, in what she likened to Stockholm syndrome.

In the cease-and-desist letter to the woman, Swalwell’s lawyer argued that some of these text messages, including one in which she said “you would be an amazing governor,” raised doubt about her account.

The woman told CNN she decided to speak out about what happened to her after hearing rumors about other women accusing Swalwell of misconduct, and realizing she wasn’t alone.

“I suffered a lot in silence… I had no desire to ever come after him or ever come out saying something,” she said. But she concluded that Swalwell “used my vulnerabilities and the fact that I looked up to him to be able to get something from it,” she added.

Explicit messages and nudes

Two other women told CNN that Swalwell had sent them unsolicited photos of his penis and other sexual messages on Snapchat after connecting on social media in 2021.

Sammarco said she first connected with Swalwell after messaging him on Twitter in August 2021, asking him about his history of growing up in a Republican family.

Swalwell sent her friendly messages on Twitter, screenshots she provided to CNN show, asking her about her life and work in politics, and sent her his phone number. They began texting, and he offered to share her resume with other congressional offices to help her get a job on Capitol Hill.

Eventually, Sammarco said, Swalwell started texting her late at night to ask personal questions. He sent her a photo of himself drinking wine at home, she said. One screenshot she provided to CNN shows Swalwell musing whether he should “pour a nightcap,” and telling the influencer “now you’re the bad angel tempting me” when she said he should. In another message she showed CNN, he asked, “are you on snap?”

Starting in September 2021, Sammarco said, she and Swalwell exchanged messages on Snapchat almost every day. Swalwell “became very inappropriate, like saying about how hot he thought I was, insinuating we should get together and hook up,” she said. “He was always like drunk texting me, saying, ‘Oh, I’m having a drink. What are you doing?’ And I’m like, ‘I am out with my friends.’ Like, I’m 24.”

The congressman sent Sammarco selfies of himself in bed or shirtless, as well as unsolicited photos of his penis, she said.

Swalwell asked Sammarco where she lived, she said, and then ran by her apartment building several times, stopping to say hi and giving her hugs but not coming inside. Swalwell also gave her a personal tour of the Capitol, she said.

Their contacts fizzled out when Sammarco met her boyfriend, now her husband, in December 2021, she said. Swalwell “tried multiple times to message me on Snapchat again… and I just, like, won’t respond,” she said. They maintained some contact in the subsequent years, according to messages reviewed by CNN.

Then in November 2025, the same month Swalwell announced his gubernatorial run, he messaged Sammarco again, congratulating her on her “social media dominance,” according to a screenshot she provided to CNN.

Another woman, who works in marketing, said Swalwell first reached out to her on Twitter in April 2021, when she was in her late twenties, after she liked several of his posts. “When someone like him starts to talk to you – it’s like, why is he interested in me?” she said.

They began messaging on Snapchat, and the conversation became flirty and sexual after about a month, she said. Swalwell often requested swimsuit or nude photos of the woman, which she sometimes sent. He sent her several videos of his penis, which she did not ask for, she said.

The two never met in person, but messaged on and off for four years, she said. She said Swalwell usually initiated contact. At some points, Swalwell offered to help her with her career, though she said she never took him up on it.

In one flirty exchange reviewed by CNN, Swalwell complimented her on a swimsuit photo she’d shared on Instagram and said it had been too long since they’d last messaged, according to screenshots she provided to CNN. “That swimsuit. Fuck,” he wrote.

CNN spoke with two friends who said the woman told them about Swalwell sending her images of his penis and sexually explicit messages at the time it was happening. One friend also said they reviewed a Snapchat video that wasn’t sexually explicit that Swalwell sent to her.

The woman said she felt “embarrassed and kind of ashamed” about her exchanges with Swalwell.

“When you’re getting unsolicited dick videos sent to you, it just makes you feel like I’m lesser than a person,” she said. “I just wish I’d never answered him.”

CNN’s Curt Devine and Yahya Abou-Ghazala contributed to this report.

Do you have a story to share about Rep. Swalwell or another member of Congress? Contact allison.gordon@cnn.com or securely via Signal at allisongordon.38

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