{"id":197341,"date":"2026-04-14T21:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T21:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/197341\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T21:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T21:13:08","slug":"swalwell-spoke-at-anti-gun-gala-in-nyc-before-alleged-rape-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/197341\/","title":{"rendered":"Swalwell spoke at anti-gun gala in NYC before alleged rape: source"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Disgraced Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/14\/us-news\/eric-swalwells-alleged-rape-victim-lonna-drewes-arrives-at-sheriffs-office-with-damning-texts-and-photos\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Eric Swalwell allegedly raped a former staffer<\/a> in New York City after taking the stage at an anti-gun violence gala he attended with the victim, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n<p>Swalwell and his former aide were guests at the annual Brady Action Awards in Midtown on April 25, 2024, where the congressman was a guest speaker among other dignitaries, according to sources and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/04\/10\/us\/eric-swalwell-sexual-misconduct-allegations-invs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CNN<\/a> report.<\/p>\n<p>Swalwell was listed among the \u201cawardees, special guests, and host committee members\u201d at the event, held at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in Manhattan and hosted by director Judd Apatow.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.75488281;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39085541\" width=\"445\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/rep-eric-swalwell-addresses-sexual-125637138.jpg\" alt=\"Rep. Eric Swalwell addresses sexual misconduct allegations.\" class=\"wp-image-39085541\"  \/>Swalwell allegedly raped a former staffer after the 2024 Brady Action Network gala in New York City. @ericswalwell \/ Instagram<\/p>\n<p>After The Post reached out to the Brady organization seeking comment, the press release listing Swalwell alongside other luminaries including Sen. Chuck Schumer, actor Bradley Whitford and comedian W. Kamau Bell was conspicuously taken offline.<\/p>\n<p>Video of the event was also completely scrubbed from the anti-gun advocacy group\u2019s YouTube page, which left the streams of the 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025 events available for viewing at the time of writing.<\/p>\n<p>A Google search cache references the 54-minute and 45-second video from the 2024 event as previously existing, but there is no corresponding live link.<\/p>\n<p>CNN mentioned viewing the video and seeing photos of Swalwell and the former staffer together at the gala, but didn\u2019t specify what event they were attending.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Brady did not provide a comment or any explanation when pressed for a statement. However, the organization was one of the first to call for Swalwell to resign on April 11 as the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/11\/us-news\/eric-swalwell-paid-illegal-brazilian-live-in-nanny-under-the-table-with-campaign-funds-complaint-alleges\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">firestorm of accusations<\/a> reached critical mass.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe unequivocally believe the courageous women who have shared their experiences of sexual harassment and assault by Rep. Eric Swalwell. The detailed reporting of their accounts makes strikingly clear that Swalwell is unfit for office,\u201d Brady said in the statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is only one right response: Eric Swalwell must resign from Congress and drop out of the California governor\u2019s race now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.90625;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39085537\" width=\"535\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/125603814.jpg\" alt=\"Newspaper headline &quot;SWAL'OUT&quot; announces &quot;Disgraced Rep quits House as new woman set to tell all about her sexual abuse,&quot; alongside a photo of Eric Swalwell.\" class=\"wp-image-39085537\"  \/>Disgraced California Rep. Eric Swalwell resigned from Congress after multiple accusations of sexual abuse surfaced.<\/p>\n<p>The former staffer claimed Swalwell sexually assaulted her in September 2019 \u2014 when she got drunk and woke up naked in his hotel bed. She alleged he raped her at a New York City hotel after she\u2019d stopped working for the congressman\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>The former staffer, who was 25 at the time, told the outlet she met the married congressman for drinks after the event, when he drunkenly confessed he was \u201cobsessed\u201d with her, and proclaimed he had never cheated on his wife \u2014 except with her.<\/p>\n<p>The two bar-hopped, and continued drinking until she was \u201cheavily intoxicated\u201d and told the outlet she doesn\u2019t remember leaving the last bar before they ended up at a hotel.<\/p>\n<p>She claimed the next thing she knew, she was in bed with Swalwell \u201chaving sex with her,\u201d and claims he persisted despite repeatedly pushing him off her.<\/p>\n<p>One of the text messages the alleged victim sent two friends said \u201cI was sexually assaulted on Thursday,\u201d CNN reported \u2014 the 2024 Brady Action Awards were held on Thursday, April 25, 2024.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s Brady Action Awards will be held Tuesday and emceed by Michael Urie of AppleTV\u2019s \u201cShrinking.\u201d It will be attended by speakers and honorees including lefty journalist Jonathan Capehart and New York Attorney General Letitia James.<\/p>\n<p>On the day of the 2024 gala, Swalwell posted an anti-gun, pro-abortion message on his Instagram page, featuring an illustration of a handgun with the words \u201cfree to carry\u201d and an image of a pregnant woman below the text \u201cforced to carry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Swalwell has vehemently denied the mounting accusations against him, but <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/12\/us-news\/eric-swalwell-quits-california-governors-race-after-sex-attack-allegations\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">suspended his campaign for California governor<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/13\/us-news\/eric-swalwell-resigns-from-congress-after-sexual-misconduct-accusations\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">resigned from Congress<\/a> Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment I\u2019ve made in my past. I will fight the serious, false allegation made against me. However I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make,\u201d he wrote in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/repswalwell\/status\/2043802702971359521?s=46\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">statement on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Disgraced Rep. Eric Swalwell allegedly raped a former staffer in New York City after taking the stage at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[858,22680,14821,9,56,63,65,64,87,3019,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-197341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-congress","9":"tag-eric-swalwell","10":"tag-galas","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-ny","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-nyc-headlines","15":"tag-nyc-news","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-sexual-assault","18":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197341","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=197341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}