The question of how to handle allegations of sexual assault against former Rep. Eric Swalwell that extend into the East Bay has become a contentious issue in the race for Alameda County district attorney.<\/p>\n
At a press conference in Oakland on Thursday, DA Ursula Jones Dickson outlined her office\u2019s approach to the Swalwell matter and sex crimes more generally. She also spoke to criticisms from her main opponent in the June primary election, Pamela Price.\u00a0<\/p>\n
California\u2019s 14th Congressional District, which Swalwell represented for more than 12 years until his resignation on April 14, falls entirely within Alameda County, the DA\u2019s jurisdiction. Jones Dickson said her office is reviewing allegations and information to determine whether Swalwell committed any crimes in Alameda County and whether any charges could be filed.<\/p>\n
Since news of the allegations against Swalwell surfaced on April 10, Price, in several newsletters<\/a>, has leaned into the message that she is the only candidate willing to go after high-profile figures like him.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe need a DA that has the knowledge, experience, and moral courage to hold sexual predators accountable,\u201d she wrote in a recent email to supporters. \u201cThe allegations against Eric Swalwell deserve to be pursued as vigorously as the person who shoplifts at Walmart.\u201d<\/p>\n News that Jones Dickson is looking into potential local connections to the Swalwell allegations first surfaced last week<\/a> when she told the East Bay Times the DA\u2019s office would \u201creview and assess all available information to determine what further action can be taken.\u201d<\/p>\n Before he was elected to the House in 2013, Swalwell was a member of the Dublin City Council, and before that, from 2006 to 2012, he was a prosecutor in the Alameda County DA\u2019s office.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jones Dickson said her team hasn\u2019t been contacted by anyone with allegations involving Swalwell in Alameda County. But according to the San Francisco Chronicle<\/a>, one of the women to come forward said she met Swalwell at a Pleasanton steakhouse in 2019 \u2014 in the Alameda County DA\u2019s jurisdiction \u2014 not long after she was hired at his district office at age 21. She said that Swalwell bought her alcohol and that she had no memory of leaving the restaurant. She said she woke up the next morning in his hotel room naked, feeling she had been sexually assaulted while she was too intoxicated to consent, events she recounted to friends a few years later. Swalwell has called the claim \u201cfalse,\u201d and his attorney sent the woman a cease-and-desist letter, the Chronicle reported.<\/p>\n Today, the DA issued a message of support to women who have been victims, including any who might have information about Swalwell.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019ve been the victim of sexual assault and you\u2019re ready to tell your story, please reach out to law enforcement or this district attorney\u2019s office,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are actively involved in trying to figure out if there are any victims who can come forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones Dickson also struck a cautious note in her address to survivors: \u201cI want you to know your rights because they\u2019re paramount to public interest and anything political,\u201d she said. \u201cNo one has the right to force you to do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n She said no one has the right to compel sexual assault survivors to testify or otherwise participate in any investigation, adding that the law requires they be treated with dignity and respect. Survivors, she said, can ask law enforcement to keep their identities confidential. And she listed off resources available to survivors, including through the county\u2019s Family Justice Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jones Dickson declined to provide specifics about her team\u2019s review of the Swalwell allegations. \u201cI don\u2019t have thoughts on open investigations,\u201d she said in response to a question. \u201cWhen prosecutors do that, they find themselves recused and unable to do the work on behalf of victims.\u201d<\/p>\n Price called Swalwell a predator, claimed Jones Dickson has a conflict of interest<\/p>\n Price held a press conference<\/a> of her own in Hayward yesterday, where she also urged potential Swalwell victims to come forward and took aim at Jones Dickson, accusing the DA of being unable to fairly investigate.<\/p>\n \u201cA full week ago, I called on District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson to acknowledge the conflict of interest and immediately refer her investigation of Eric Swalwell\u2019s sexual misconduct to the California Attorney General Rob Bonta,\u201d she said. \u201cThat has not happened. We have heard nothing from our interim district attorney for a week.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones Dickson and Swalwell overlapped as prosecutors in the DA\u2019s office from 2006 to 2012. There\u2019s no public evidence that the two were close while they worked in the DA\u2019s office, but Jones Dickson had endorsed Swalwell\u2019s campaign for governor last year, a favor Swalwell returned by endorsing Jones Dickson for DA. Swalwell\u2019s congressional campaign committee also made a $1,000 contribution<\/a> to Jones Dickson\u2019s campaign in December.<\/p>\n On April 11, the day after news about Swalwell broke, Jones Dickson wrote in a social media post<\/a> that she was \u201cdeeply troubled\u201d by the allegations and was rescinding her endorsement of him and declining his.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have a conflict,\u201d Jones Dickson told reporters today. She did not address the $1,000 donation.<\/p>\n Price, who was recalled by voters in 2024, announced a new hotline yesterday and urged Swalwell victims to come forward.<\/p>\n Jones Dickson said Price\u2019s hotline is a bad idea.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is not a law enforcement hotline. So making a call to that hotline doesn\u2019t mean that you\u2019re making a call to law enforcement,\u201d she said. \u201cThat information is not confidential.\u201d<\/p>\n Swalwell was a major critic of Price during the 2024 recall election. That October, Swalwell appeared alongside the recall organizers<\/a> and accused Price of putting in place \u201cpro-criminal policies,\u201d ridiculing her policy of not always charging people with enhancements in gun cases.<\/p>\n