{"id":193855,"date":"2026-04-12T01:00:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T01:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/193855\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T01:00:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T01:00:37","slug":"manhattan-das-office-to-investigate-eric-swalwell-over-sexual-assault-allegations-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/193855\/","title":{"rendered":"Manhattan DA\u2019s office to investigate Eric Swalwell over sexual assault allegations | New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Manhattan district attorney\u2019s office said on Saturday that it is investigating a sexual assault allegation against Eric Swalwell, a Democratic<\/a> congressman from California<\/a> running to be the state\u2019s governor, who on Friday denied<\/a> claims by an unnamed woman that he sexually assaulted her twice.<\/p>\n

Confirmation of an investigation came after the San Francisco Chronicle reported<\/a> on Friday that a woman who previously worked in Swalwell\u2019s district office accused him of two nonconsensual sexual encounters.<\/p>\n

She was quoted in the newspaper\u2019s report as saying she had been too intoxicated on both occasions \u2013 in California in 2019, when she worked for Swalwell, and then in New York<\/a> in 2024 \u2013 to consent to sex.<\/p>\n

New York law holds that a person cannot consent to sexual activity if they are \u201cmentally incapacitated\u201d or \u201cphysically helpless\u201d due to drugs or alcohol, but in some cases voluntary intoxication may not legally negate consent.<\/p>\n

In an on-camera interview with CNN<\/a> in which her face was obscured, the woman directly accused Swalwell of raping her in New York. The broadcaster also reported<\/a> that three other women accused Swalwell of sending them inappropriate sexual messages, including naked images, and unwanted touching.<\/p>\n

The Manhattan district attorney\u2019s office urged anyone with knowledge of the allegations to contact its special victims division.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur specially trained prosecutors, investigators, and counselors are well-equipped to help you in a trauma-informed, survivor-centered manner,\u201d the DA\u2019s office said in a statement to CNN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Swalwell has denied the accusations as \u201cabsolutely false\u201d and suggested they were politically motivated. He noted that they come ahead of the June primary in the governor\u2019s race<\/a> replace Gavin Newsom, the outgoing governor, in which Swalwell was one of the leading contenders to advance to a top-two runoff after a non-partisan primary in June.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese allegations of sexual assault are flat false. They\u2019re absolutely false. They did not happen, they have never happened, and I will fight them with everything that I have,\u201d the congressman said on Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The allegations, which have not been independently verified by the Guardian, were published four days after Swalwell told reporters in Sacramento he\u2019d never had a sexual relationship with a staff member or intern.<\/p>\n

Swalwell said in a video statement on social media that he would spend the weekend with family and friends and share an update \u201cvery soon\u201d.<\/p>\n

Staff at Swalwell\u2019s office condemned the alleged behavior by the Democratic congressman.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stand with our former colleague, and the other women who have come forward. We believe you should stand with them, too,\u201d the statement, obtained by the Washington Post<\/a>, said. \u201cThe behavior detailed in these reports is abhorrent, beneath the dignity of those serving in public office and betrays the trust of all Californians.\u201d<\/p>\n

They said that \u201cany decision of staff members to remain in their roles in the interim should not be viewed as support\u201d for Swalwell.<\/p>\n

The Manhattan DA\u2019s investigation came a day after prominent supporters of Swalwell\u2019s bid for governor began to withdraw their backing<\/a>, including all 21 of his backers in Congress.<\/p>\n

A number of leading California<\/a> Democrats, including both of the state\u2019s senators and its lieutenant governor, urged Swalwell to end his campaign.<\/p>\n

Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who hasn\u2019t endorsed any candidate in the race, said the \u201cserious allegations\u201d must be investigated. She said she spoke to Swalwell and suggested that be done \u201coutside of a gubernatorial campaign\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Manhattan district attorney\u2019s office said on Saturday that it is investigating a sexual assault allegation against Eric…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-193855","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manhattan","8":"tag-manhattan","9":"tag-manhattan-headlines","10":"tag-manhattan-news","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}