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Amy Robach
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
Miles Turner
I'm Miles Turner.
Brianna Stewart
And I'm Brianna Stewart.
Miles Turner
And our podcast, game recognized game, has
TJ Holmes
never been done before.
Brianna Stewart
Two active players giving you a real look at our lives and what we actually think on and off the court.
Miles Turner
Nothing's off limits.
Brianna Stewart
We talk tanking. I might get in trouble for this answer, but I think it's, like, definitely happening.
Miles Turner
In the wnba, we talk about our mistakes, too. They pulled me to the side and was like, hey, man, we got a call last night, man. You can't be rolling around the city like this is tonight.
Brianna Stewart
Before games, check out game recognized game with Stewie and miles on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Earn Your Leisure Host
Earners, what's up? Look, money is something we all deal with, but financial literacy is what helps turn income into real wealth. On each episode of the podcast, earn your leisure, we break down the conversations you need to understand money investing and entrepreneurship. From stocks and real estate to credit business and generational wealth. Our goal is simple. Make financial literacy accessible for everyone. Because when you understand the system, you can start to build within it. Open your free iHeartRadio app search, earn your leisure and listen now.
Iris Palmer
Hi, I'm Iris Palmer, host of the against all odds podcast. Every week, I'm sitting down with exceptional people who have broken barriers even when the odds were stacked against them, like Chef Victor Villa of Villa's tacos. You know, the taquero from the bad Bunny halftime show.
Guest/Various Podcast Promos
It was great. It was a big moment. It was special, and I felt like I was really representing my family, you know, my city. I was representing all taqueros, not only of, like, you know, the U.S. but of Mexico and beyond all the taqueros of the world.
Iris Palmer
Listen to against all odds on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Dos Amigos Podcast Host
This financial literacy month, we are talking about the one investment most people ignore. Building a business around the life you actually want.
Amy Robach
It was just us making happen whatever he said was gonna happen.
Dos Amigos Podcast Host
And then it happened on dos Amigos, entrepreneurs like Amir Kassam and Joe Hoff. Get real. Taking risk and why your dream might be the smartest move.
Guest Speaker on Dos Amigos
At the end of my life, what am I really going to care about? And the conclusion I came to is what I did to make the world a better place in whatever way.
Dos Amigos Podcast Host
Listen to those amigos on the IHI radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
TJ Holmes
Hey there, folks. It is Tuesday, April 14, and as we record this, a woman In Los Angeles is on her way to the police department to report that Congressman Eric Swalwell drugged, choked, and raped her. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and tj. This would be the fifth accuser and the second woman, Robes, to come forward and share a story. Accusation of this is not just inappropriate behavior. This is now two accusations of a horrible criminal act. Ropes.
Amy Robach
Yes. This isn't sexual harassment. This isn't sexual abuse. This was, as she described it, a violent rape that involved drugging. And you mentioned choking. She actually sat in front of cameras with microphones in her face and said after she went through this, she says she didn't want to live. This was a powerful emotional account of what she claims happened in 2018.
TJ Holmes
And we should tell you all now. We are hopping on. She just wrapped a press conference. We knew this press conference was happening. We were told that there would be some new details. We were not expecting this. And key here, Robes, key is that the first accuser came out. Sure. Maybe people are putting it together, but she did an interview in which she did not show her face, that she was blacked out. She hasn't given her name. This woman sat in front of a room full of cameras. Her name is Alana Drews. And put her name and face on it and told her story. Robes, this is not the other. The other. Look, we have to believe a woman when she comes forward like this, but talk of our talk of alcohol and really getting wasted and didn't remember one night, and then the other night there were flashes. This is not the case at all with this woman's story.
Amy Robach
I have to tell you, just listening to her tell her story, you could hear a pin drop. And I had chills from head to toe multiple times listening to her recount this. And I just have to say, just in terms of my impressions, and everyone can have their impression. And of course, this is her version of events. This is all alleged. He, of course, denies any wrongdoing, denies so far any of the accounts and certainly any criminal accounts that have been made that would describe behav behavior that could be. Yes. Punishable by police. So he's denied everything. However, listening to her tell her story, Damn, she was very believable. She was composed. She was emotional, but in a very genuine way. I thought listening to her, I felt for her and I believed her.
TJ Holmes
You know, frankly, she felt brave. She felt brave sitting there and hearing part of her story. Robes. And I know it was a part that you jumped on the most and you like. I. I feel her There. Is that the reason she hasn't come forward in all this time, and we're talking about. It's been eight years. She lived in fear, and she was in circles that were influential and didn't want to rock the boat. And all I. When you were listening to her, you were like, yep, that reads. Yep, that makes sense. Yep. I get it.
Amy Robach
Yes. Because here is a woman. She was a model in Beverly Hills, but she also owned a fashion software company, and she was hoping to get connected to folks in Silicon Valley. She describes Congressman Eric Swalwell as a friend and someone who said, hey, I can hook you up. I've got connections. Let's have some meetings. So she had a couple meetings with him. This was another meeting. And she said, I knew he was married. I knew his wife was pregnant. So she went into this not feeling threatened or feeling like maybe something else was going on. She felt like this was a legit business friendship that could actually serve her well in her. In her professional career. And when she talked about why she didn't, she did tell friends she did say this, and she did document it in several ways. Personally. She went to a therapist for years, but she didn't want to go to police, and she didn't want to say anything publicly out of fear that her. She wouldn't be believed. That he was a powerful political figure who had. She said his family has ties to law enforcement. He's a big deal in this area. And to go up against him and to say something happened and then to be pitted against him. She said, he said she just. She felt too afraid to come forward.
TJ Holmes
Her delay was driven by fear. Not doubt is how she placed it. But her name is Lana Drew. She was, as you mentioned, Robes, working as a model. Had this company out there. Now, her press conference, and I wanted to make sure we said this exactly how she said it. Quote, I believed he drugged my drink. Now, she goes on to tell this story of Robe. She says she met him and then they were together socially. On three occasions, she offered to help him. Excuse me. He offered to help her out. But the third occasion. Let's move to that one. Robes. And she starts to describe. They were supposed to go to an event together. Again, 2018, they're supposed to go to some event, but he says he needs to go back up to his room.
Amy Robach
Correct. And she said beforehand they had. She had one glass of wine.
TJ Holmes
One.
Amy Robach
One glass of wine. And she said, look, she was considering running for city council. She had an interest in politics. So, yes, she was going to A public event with him. So she knows she only had one glass of wine. He said, according to her, oops, I got to run up to my hotel room to retrieve some paperwork. She said by the time she walked into his room, she couldn't move her arms. She started to feel the effects of what she believes was a drug that she believes he put in her drink.
TJ Holmes
What she describes is not somebody who just had one glass of wine. I don't care how much of a lightweight. What she describes sounds fishy. Now, Robes, before we continue with her story, the reason this stands out so much, because we couldn't understand why the other accuser said he also raped her. Couldn't remember whole parts of the night. Couldn't remember going from the bar to the hotel. Couldn't remember anything in between. Now, robes that. Look, folks have been blackout drunk before. You happen to be blackout drunk on the two times and can't remember anything. The two times you met up with this congressman Robes, that might lend itself a little more to that story. And what could have. Could have. She's not alleging. Right.
Amy Robach
She doesn't know. She doesn't even know enough to allege. And she knows she was drinking. So I actually give her credit. She wasn't trying to say I only had one. And I don't know how she was like, I was heavily drinking. But you are correct. When I was listening to Lana Drew's tell her story, I immediately went to the former staffer and thought, I wonder if she even considered that maybe something was put in one of those drinks to make her literally remember nothing.
TJ Holmes
All right, let's hop back to Lana. Yeah. Just wanted to insert that in there, but, yeah, she says she has the one drink, goes upstairs, can't move her body.
Amy Robach
She said you couldn't move her arms. She couldn't move her body, but she knew what was going on. And she said he raped her and he choked her so much that she says she actually lost consciousness. She said she thought she was dying. Yeah, she used that phrase. I thought I was dying.
TJ Holmes
Now, I didn't hear. They didn't go into details. I think, Robes, about the aftermath. What happened immediately after. How does she get away from. How did she get home? Whatever happened, they didn't give those details, and they didn't give all details. She did let us know that at the time, she did not do a rape kit. But, Robe, she did plenty of other things that will be seen as if. Even if not evidence, it'll certainly lend to her credibility.
Amy Robach
Oh, this is something that police look for when they are putting together a criminal investigation and get ready to make charges. Did she tell people close to her at the time she claims it happened? The answer is yes. She also says she logged it in her handwritten calendar that this happened on this date. And then she also documented the assault during multiple theory therapy sessions at a sexual assault center.
TJ Holmes
That's a. If they got those records.
Amy Robach
And the fact if she did all of this in 2018 and said nothing publicly, it absolutely corroborates or at least makes it so much more believable that she didn't go forward because she was afraid. She was afraid of being put in that position, of being forced to perhaps even maybe lose her business or lose clients or just becoming that woman no one wants to be. No woman wants to be that woman who's pointing the finger at a powerful man. It's a scary, scary endeavor. But the fact that she did all of those things to try and heal herself speaks to me, to her credibility.
TJ Holmes
And again, this is in 2018 is when this happened to her. Robes. Since then, there have been plenty of other times that she was after him, times when his profile was higher. There were times she could have hurt him if she wanted to hurt him. There were times she could have blackmailed him, if she wanted to blackmail him in some way, form or fashion. If she wanted a favor even from him, she had plenty of chances to do so. Robes. And she's just that that lends greatly to credibility.
Amy Robach
Yes. Again, watching her, listening to her description of what happened, hearing how she acted, hearing in the aftermath of everything, it all seemed very credible. And it is of note because she felt safe, she felt empowered. She felt like she would be believed now. And that makes a lot of sense too, because other women have come forward
TJ Holmes
and there might be more. We will explain what her attorney said in this press conference that will have Eric Swalwell certainly concerned, but it will raise more eyebrows about just how many women potential victims there are out there. Stay here.
Guest/Various Podcast Promos
I feel like it was a little bit unbelievable until I really start making money.
Eating While Broke Host
It's Financial Literacy Month, and the podcast Eating While Broke is bringing real conversations about money, growth and building your future. This month hear from top streamer Zoe Spencer and venture capitalist Lakeisha Landrum Pierre as they share their journeys from starting out to life leveling up.
Guest/Various Podcast Promos
If I'm outside with my parents and they're seeing all these people come up to me for pictures, it's like, what today? Now, Obviously, it's like 100%. They believe everything, but at first it was just like, you gotta go get a real job. There's an economic component to community striving. If there's not enough money and entrepreneurship happening in communities, they fail. And what I mean by fail is they don't have money to pay for food. They cannot feed their kids. They do not have homes. Communities don't work unless there's money flowing through them.
Eating While Broke Host
Listen to Eating While Broke from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Nick, Dick and Paul Show Host
When you listen to podcasts about AI and tech and the future of humanity, the hosts always act like they know what they're talking about and they are experts at everything. Here at the Nick, Dick and Pole show, we're not afraid to make mistakes. What Coogler did that I think was so unique.
Guest/Various Podcast Promos
Who's he?
Nick, Dick and Paul Show Host
He's the writer, director.
Nick, Dick and Paul Show Co-host
Who do you think he is?
Miles Turner
I don't know.
Nick, Dick and Paul Show Host
You meet the, like the president.
Nick, Dick and Paul Show Co-host
You think Canada has a president? You think China has a president? Those law proves that. God, I love that thing. I use it all the time.
Nick, Dick and Paul Show Host
What color?
Nick, Dick and Paul Show Co-host
I wrap it in a blanket and sing to it at night.
Nick, Dick and Paul Show Host
It's like the old Polish saying, not my monkeys, not my circus. Yep, it was a good one.
Nick, Dick and Paul Show Co-host
I like that saying. It's an actual Polish saying.
Nick, Dick and Paul Show Host
It is an actual Polish.
Nick, Dick and Paul Show Co-host
Better version of Play stupid Games, win stupid prizes.
Miles Turner
Yes.
Nick, Dick and Paul Show Co-host
Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift
TJ Holmes
who said that for the first time.
Nick, Dick and Paul Show Co-host
I actually. I thought it.
TJ Holmes
I got that wrong.
Nick, Dick and Paul Show Host
Listen to the Nick, Dick and Paul show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Cheryl Strayed
Hi, everyone. I'm Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things. I'm excited to share that I have a new podcast called Mind Over Mountain. In each episode, I interview athletes, adventurers, and adrenaline seekers to discuss the inner landscapes and life experiences that informed and inspired inspired their extraordinary feats. I also bring a bit of advice into the mix so we too can better understand how to face our own seemingly insurmountable challenges.
Guest/Various Podcast Promos
Do you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna pull out what you already have inside. We come into this world fighting for our lives. All I'm gonna do is pull out what you already got inside.
Amy Robach
We're there to support and celebrate each other and that it's not like a your story versus my story.
Cheryl Strayed
You're gonna walk up and over that dang mountain. You're not just gonna put your mind over it.
Guest/Various Podcast Promos
Yep, yep, exactly. And if I Can't walk up and over it. I'm gonna go through it.
Cheryl Strayed
Listen to Mind Over Mountain every Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Miles Turner
What's up? I'm Miles Turner.
Brianna Stewart
And I'm Brianna Stewart.
Miles Turner
And our podcast, Game Recognized Game, has never been done before.
Brianna Stewart
Two active players giving you a real look at our lives and what we actually think on and off the court.
Miles Turner
Nothing's off limits. We talk trade requests.
Brianna Stewart
What's the vibe of that when it's like your star player is like, well, I want to leave and then actually now I'm going to stay. We talk tanking. I mean, honestly, like, I might get in trouble for this answer, but I think it's like, definitely happening in the wnba.
Miles Turner
And yeah, we talk about our mistakes too. They pulled me to the side and was like, hey, man, we got a call last night and you can't be rolling around the city like this the night before games. No, you know, doing this, doing whatever.
Brianna Stewart
And of course, family stories, they'll be like, mommy, why did you miss that? Mommy, do you play basketball? Check out Game Recognized game with Stewie and miles on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
TJ Holmes
All right, we continue here on Amy and tj. Robes are just mentioned. You said she has come forward now and she's come forward because other women came forward. Well, now that she's come forward, shouldn't we expect possibly phones to be ringing at a Manhattan DA's office at the Los Angeles Police Department of Beverly Hills, wherever they are? Robes, this. How far does this go?
Amy Robach
Yeah, because the timing all is interesting because remember his former staffer, who was 21 at the time, detailed what she said was the first time he sexually assaulted her. As 2019, we are hearing from Lana that her incident happened, she says, in 2018. So this is all in the same kind of period of time. And look, if this is true, I believe from just the experience we've had covering these types of stories, when a person acts like this, it oftentimes isn't an outlier. It isn't an individual or a singular event. This typically is a sexual desire and a pattern. And so if you've already got now the fifth woman coming out and what they describe is so atrocious and violent. And if he had been getting away with it year after year after year, if this is all true, I can't imagine there aren't more women there. It seems like they're almost certainly are more Women.
TJ Holmes
Robes. You said this to me before in cases maybe not a drug, but it's hard to imagine that this was the first time he done it. If he did it that she was the first or a one off. That means it's possibly happened. How many possible times you telling me a U.S. congressman who actually ran for president and wanted to be the governor of California was out there drugging and raping people?
Earn Your Leisure Host
Robe.
TJ Holmes
That's Jeez. Robe. This is an unbelievable story he has. This is not a one off. And look, we believe that first victim that first you have to listen to that story. Robes. But there are parts of that story you might ask a follow up question about. There are parts of that story you might question about memories in it. This lady's story is at least from a press conference unimpeachable. Robes.
Amy Robach
She way to put it.
TJ Holmes
She's got receipts upon receipts upon receipts. She says now we haven't seen them yet. But as we sit here she says she was getting up from that press conference and going directly to police.
Amy Robach
That was powerful. When she said I will be making a report to law enforcement immediately I could see this could make me emotional. I could see the strength coming back to her because when she was telling the story she was vulnerable. She was emotional. You could see and feel how powerless she felt. And she has felt in that moment and all of the years that have followed, even telling us that she wanted she had suicidal thoughts based on what she had experienced because she felt so powerless, helpless. And to see her say I will be making a report to law enforcement immediately. I saw the strength come back in her voice and I felt, I just felt a bunch of pride rushing up in me because in this moment when you saw her and you heard her story and you take in the consideration of all the other stories that are out there, you start to get an idea of what one man who is unchecked with this kind of power, the damage that he can cause. Now again, I have we, I, I, we need to say it multiple times. Eric Swalwell has denied all of these allegations. He has not been charged with any crime. But since still this is a picture that is emerging that is chilling and should be paid very close attention to
TJ Holmes
and Robes we mentioned we don't know how far this will go, but this is beyond messages and unwanted. Right. Misconduct is different from criminal. And Robes. They are painting the picture now of a potential monster is just hard to understand. And we are Robes. You thought it was interesting that when the Manhattan DA put out a statement saying they Were looking into this. They had a call out, essentially. There. Any other victims out there we want to hear from? Had a phone number, didn't they attach to it?
Amy Robach
They did for their Special Victims Unit.
TJ Holmes
It's one of the last things Lana's attorney did. Lisa Bloom said, we want to hear from you Gave a website, gave a number. We want to hear not just from potential survivors, but also witnesses to anything. So not even if you just saw you're aware of something. We want to hear. She says she's already heard from three women.
Amy Robach
Wow. And that's not shocking, but it's still so sickening to hear.
TJ Holmes
Just more phone calls are likely being made. Robes. I just. It's. This is a member of Congress robes. We talk about Governor of California. He was trying to be. He's trying to. He presided over the impeachment trial. This is a high profile, big influential guy that was raping people and, you know, for years.
Amy Robach
2018, by the way, is the year of MeToo. That actually also is shocking to me. I would have thought, naively so, I guess that all of these powerful men who may have been behaving badly, who had gotten away with it for decades, years, whatever, when that reckoning took place, I would have thought that even if you're that guy, you might check yourself and think, you know what? I might actually go down. This is not worth it. Any sexual fantasy I have or anything I'm getting out of doing this isn't worth me losing my entire life and livelihood. And yet if this is true, the timing, actually, this was happening. If it. It happened in the midst of me too. Think about that.
TJ Holmes
Can you tell me, babe, some of the other accusers about the. The messages and whatnot. Do you know the years, the range for those?
Amy Robach
Well, if I thought I had seen like 2021.
TJ Holmes
Okay. So.
Amy Robach
Yes. So it seemed as though that the. The dates we've gotten. The first one was 2018 and 19
TJ Holmes
or where we have 19.
Amy Robach
So now we have. Yeah, that's it. 2018 and then all the way up to 2024. So it seems as though these instances and some of the ones from these social influencers. I'm not trying to act like it's not a big deal, but they are a far cry from what we're hearing from these two women, the former staffer and now this former model, Lana Drews. But I do think it's really, really significant that she did not only put her name to it, but her face to it and her own voice to it. That was powerful.
TJ Holmes
Robes There might be more fallout. Are they? You're really gonna. Somebody's gonna start asking, who knew? What are you really telling me? Y' all been walking the halls with him for the past eight years and nobody. Because stuff starting. It's like it was an open secret here in dc, don't forget.
Amy Robach
And we haven't validated any of this, but there are videos circulating online of people catching him kind of bragging about certain kind of behavior or being bored with his wife. And so, look, it would. I would imagine other people might have had an idea, but maybe they didn't know how significant and violent some of these accusations actually are.
TJ Holmes
This is a relevant story that. A very relevant story that seems to be just getting started. Robes. It was just last Thursday. He was trying to be the governor of California.
Amy Robach
He thought he had a pretty damn good chance, too.
TJ Holmes
Robes, how could he. Unbelievable story. But again, he is an innocent man until proven otherwise in a court of law. We always have to remember. But, folks, we appreciate you spending some time with us. This was a significant update. Just wanted to hop on and let you know what was going on. As always, appreciate you spending time with us. I'm tj. On behalf of my dear Amy Robot, we will talk to you all soon.
Guest/Various Podcast Promos
This is an iHeart podcast.
Amy Robach
Guaranteed Human.
Episode: BREAKING: New Accuser Claims Eric Swalwell Drugged, Choked And Raped Her
Date: April 14, 2026
Hosts: Amy Robach & TJ Holmes
This urgent episode revolves around breaking allegations against Congressman Eric Swalwell as a fifth accuser—identified publicly as Lana Drews—comes forward with claims of being drugged, choked, and violently raped by Swalwell in 2018. Amy Robach and TJ Holmes react to the details emerging from Drews's press conference, discuss the nature and credibility of her account, compare it to other known allegations, and contemplate the broader implications for Swalwell and for potential other victims.
Quote:
“As we record this, a woman In Los Angeles is on her way to the police department to report that Congressman Eric Swalwell drugged, choked, and raped her.”
— TJ Holmes [02:18]
[03:31] New Accuser’s Account:
“She said he raped her and he choked her so much that she says she actually lost consciousness. She said she thought she was dying...”
— Amy Robach [09:25]
[04:21–05:39] Why She Delayed Reporting:
“Her delay was driven by fear. Not doubt is how she placed it. But her name is Lana Drew...”
— TJ Holmes [06:56]
"I just felt a bunch of pride rushing up in me because in this moment when you saw her and you heard her story...you start to get an idea of what one man who is unchecked with this kind of power, the damage that he can cause."
— Amy Robach [19:09]
"Again, I have we, I, I, we need to say it multiple times. Eric Swalwell has denied all of these allegations. He has not been charged with any crime. But...this is a picture that is emerging that is chilling and should be paid very close attention to."
— Amy Robach [20:19]
"Listening to her tell her story, damn, she was very believable. She was composed. She was emotional, but in a very genuine way. I thought listening to her, I felt for her and I believed her."
— Amy Robach [04:21]
“What she describes is not somebody who just had one glass of wine. I don’t care how much of a lightweight. What she describes sounds fishy.”
— TJ Holmes [08:11]
“She says she was getting up from that press conference and going directly to police.”
— TJ Holmes [18:58]
“Now that she’s come forward, shouldn’t we expect possibly phones to be ringing at a Manhattan DA’s office, at the Los Angeles Police Department...How far does this go?”
— TJ Holmes [16:34]
Amy and TJ close the episode by underscoring the gravity and potential broadness of the case, as well as the courage of Lana Drews in addressing the allegations so publicly and forcefully. They stress that Eric Swalwell is entitled to legal presumption of innocence, but that the story is developing quickly and could implicate others who may have known. Listeners are advised to watch for more fallout and emerging information as investigations continue.