CBS News97%
Examining the lead-up to Rep. Eric Swalwell's resignation announcement77%
4/13/2026, 11:48:44 PM
BS Summary: This video contains 25 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Anecdotal, and Hasty Generalization, with Unattributed Quote as the most egregious example at 36.1% saturation with 287 hits. Analysis detected 1,950 faulty-reasoning hits from 786 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 69.6% and a BS Rank of 77% (3,911 of 16,813 videos). This video is worse (more manipulative) than 76.70% of the video peer group.
Examining the lead-up to Rep. Eric Swalwell's resignation announcement
But first, [music] we start with breaking news.
California Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell said he will resign from Congress as he faces sexual assault and misconduct allegations.
This comes a day after he dropped his bid for California governor.
He made the announcement on social media.
Swalwell apologized to his family, staff, and constituents, but said he will fight the claims made against him.
He also acknowledged efforts from other Congress members who were ready to vote him out of Congress.
All this came after allegations from a former staffer were published in the San Francisco Chronicle on Friday.
Since then, other accusations have surfaced, including one under investigation by New York City prosecutors.
I want to bring in CBS News California accountability correspondent Julie Watts for more on this.
So, Julie, Eric Swalwell suspending his run for governor and now resigning from Congress.
What are you learning about his resignation now?
Uh well, it it appears from all accounts that his resignation really was just a pressure campaign from the very top.
Keep in mind, um he was sort of a darling.
He had support from uh Pelosi, from the um from the administration, from the the the Newsom administration.
Uh there was no, you know, everybody was sort of waiting for that big endorsement to come.
Um but now, when you're getting sort of calls from the very top, people who supported you, saying, "You need to step down.
This is a distraction." you step down.
So, he's still not obviously admitting any guilt, but it the writing was on the wall.
He really didn't have a choice.
He was either going to be censured or he could voluntarily step down.
I think that's what he did.
And this really throws the Democratic Party into a tailspin.
So, what now happens to his seat in Congress?
Well, you know, there's already an election underway for his seat.
So, now the governor will have to call a special election.
What this does actually is it helps the people who are currently running for his seat because now there's an additional election, which means they can get additional uh campaign contributions and sort of build their war chest, right?
So, um it does help them to raise money or gives them the ability to raise more money.
But ultimately, his seat was up anyway, and there already is a a a group of people running to replace him.
So, let's talk about Swalwell's assault allegations.
In regards to those, where does the investigation go from here?
Uh well, I mean, certainly there is a criminal investigation, at least that's what we're hearing, underway in New York.
I think that now that he has dropped out, um or he is is resigning from Congress, there you won't see that sort of uh congressional investigation.
Um this actually might help him because there will be less chatter, there will be less investigating from within.
But certainly, that criminal investigation will continue, and you know, by all accounts, people are expecting more allegations to come out.
But you know, Julia, from the people who told me they'd known about these sort of um inappropriate interactions, the the text messages, the relationships with with interns, they had always categorized it up until recently as sort of inappropriate relationships.
And they were actually surprised to learn that there was actual assault allegations.
And so, um you know, from what I'm hearing, we have heard some of the worst um so far, but certainly there are more folks out there and more stories that we'll likely hear in the coming days.
Yeah, I was going to ask you if there was any type of accountability, if others may have known about Swalwell's reported inappropriate relations with subordinates in the past.
You know, it's it's interesting cuz I've been asking everybody that.
How is it that the candidates who are doing opposition research on Swalwell are the ones that were able to identify this when folks say it's been sort of a, you know, not a very well-hidden secret for years.
I think there is a belief that many people knew about it, maybe didn't understand the extent um of, you know, some of the allegations.
But I do think that there is going to be a there already is a a finger-pointing campaign to some extent.
Um folks saying, you know, who knew, what did they know, how long have they known, if they're supporting him, did they support him despite or in spite of these allegations?
Um I do think there will be more finger-pointing, Julia.
I think it's just a matter of time.
Yeah, Julie Watts, Julie, thanks so much.
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