Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., announced Sunday he was suspending his bid for governor after a former staffer and several other women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct. CNN’s Brian Stelter said Swalwell “ending his bid … is, among other things, a testament to the power of investigative reporting.”
But the victory lap Stelter is taking looks more like a last-ditch attempt to cover for the corporate media’s complicity in a story that appears to be an open secret in Democrat circles for more than a decade.
The dam broke after the San Francisco Chronicle reported on allegations made by a former staffer who accused Swalwell of sexual assault. CNN released a follow-up report that not only provided additional details of the alleged assault but also included more alleged victims. Swalwell has denied the claims. Nonetheless, several senior staffers on Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign released a joint statement calling the alleged behavior “abhorrent, beneath the dignity of those serving in public office and betrays the trust of all Californians.”
But the allegations were not just uncovered or recently discovered. Self-described East Bay political journalist Steve Tavares said Saturday that numerous officials knew about the allegations against Swalwell for more than a decade.
“I’ve covered Eric Swa[l]well since he was a member of the Dublin City Council. Shortly after being elected to Congress in 2013, his behavior towards women was known by all levels of our local government and the Alameda County Democratic Party,” Tavares said, adding he “tried repeatedly to get the stories out” but that the alleged victims also chose not to speak out.
Tavares’ post implies that at least one reporter (Tavares) knew about this pattern and that local officials in the Democrat Party apparatus apparently had some level of awareness.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute reporter Bethany Allen said in a now-deleted post on X that “rumors about Eric Swalwell’s sexual misconduct have swirled in DC for years. I first heard these rumors in 2020, in the course of my other reporting about Swalwell. I was neither a politics reporter nor a women’s issues reporter, so I could not chase them down.”
In response to criticism from Stephen L. Miller on X over her lack of reporting on such allegations, Allen said she “very much wanted to report it out myself. But MeToo stories on the Hill aren’t related to my beat, as much as I personally wish I could report them out. I passed the tip along to colleagues on the Hill beat.”
Then there is a 2017 CNN report that alleged that “more than half a dozen interviewees independently named one California congressman for pursuing female staffers” but that the outlet would not name the congressman “because the stories are unverified.”
While it still remains unclear who the lawmakers referenced are, it does leave readers wondering whether one of those lawmakers was Swalwell. And regardless of whether it was Swalwell, CNN’s defense that they would not identify the lawmakers because the claims were “unverified” stands in sharp contrast to how allegations against those on the right side of aisle are covered.
Contrast the propaganda press’s decades-long incuriosity about what appears to be an open secret surrounding Swalwell to the coverage of baseless accusations levied against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings. As The Federalist’s Editor-In-Chief Mollie Hemingway wrote, unsubstantiated allegations of “violent attempted rape” and “serial rape gang parties … absolutely dominated all major media” between Sept. 12 and Oct. 6. The allegations “ran on the front pages of all major newspapers and filled the hours on cable and network news. Magazine journalists at The New Yorker ran with the claims, despite massive corroboration problems.” CNN headlined one of its many pieces: “Ford ‘100%’ certain of assault claim; Kavanaugh says ‘I am innocent.'”
There was no hesitation or concern about verification thresholds. Instead, there was wall-to-wall coverage of the most risible allegations.
Perhaps it’s because revealing sexual misconduct allegations against Swalwell now is the politically convenient thing for the corporate media to do on behalf of their Democrat allies, who are likely worried that Swalwell running for governor could give Republicans a chance in California’s gubernatorial race.
Or maybe it’s just because the propaganda press only cares about allegations of sexual misconduct when they target a Republican. Either way, the propaganda press is as much a villain for seemingly knowing about allegations of sexual abuse and purposely not reporting on them until they became politically convenient or undeniable.
