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Amy Robach
This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human.
Chelsea Handler
This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. After the Big Game. Like most people, I kept thinking about the commercials. And there was one that stayed with me. It was from the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate. And it wasn't loud or flashy. It showed a Jewish kid being targeted at school and another student who chose not to ignore it. As someone who was Jewish, that moment felt very real to me. Not dramatic, just familiar. And what struck me was how clearly it showed that hate doesn't always announce itself, but the impact is still huge. If you saw the Blue Square spot during the Big Game, it's worth thinking about. And if you want to show support, sharing the Blue square is one small way to do that.
Geico Narrator
Gigo presents a 30 second podcast between your podcast. Today's story is shared by one of our listeners. It's called Betrayed by Bill. It was in that moment I caught who was staring back at me in betrayal or, or more like what, my insurance bill. With trembling hands, I grabbed my phone and switched to geico, saving about $900 in the process and never to be betrayed again. Now that was bloody riveting.
T.J. Holmes
It feels good when the story ends with savings. It feels good to Geico.
Charlamagne Tha God
Peace to the planet. Charlamagne Tha God here. And listen, we are back. The Black Effect Podcast Festival is back in Atlanta on April 25th at Pullman Yard. Yeah, and the full lineup is nuts. We got the Grits and Age Podcast, Deontay Kyle and Big Ice Cup Cat. We got Club 520 with Jeff Teague and the gang. Don't call Me White Girl. Mona will be there. Keep it positive, Sweetie with Crystal Renee. We got Reality with the King with Carlos King and yes, drink champs will be in the building. Ok. Plus you know we gonna have a lot of guests, so you need to join us. And we got the Black Effect Marketplace, the picture podcast and everything you expect from the Black Effect Podcast Festival. Tickets are on sale right now. Go get yours@blackffect.com podcast cat festival. Don't play yourself. Okay, pull up.
T.J. Holmes
Then she says, have you seen a photo of my son? And I'm like, who is this person?
Boys and Girls Podcast Host
Welcome to the boys and girls podcast. Arranged marriage is basically a reality show and you're auditioning for your soulmate. And who's judging? Only your entire family. I sacrificed myself to this ancient tradition hoping to find love the right way. And instead I found chaos, comedy and a lot of cringe. Listen to boys and Girls on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
T.J. Holmes
Hey there, folks. It is Saturday, April 11, and the leading Democrat in the race for California governor is being accused of rape by a woman who once worked for him. And she is not the only woman speaking out right now. I've been against California Congressman Eric Swalwell with that. Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Ropes. This is a very explosive story politically. There's been a lot of activity just in the past 24 hours, but on the face of it, this is some pretty ugly stuff.
Amy Robach
Yeah. And there are growing calls now for him to drop out of the race by some very prominent Democrats. So we haven't heard yet from the congressman about what his plans are in terms of continuing to seek office, but he has vehemently denied the allegations. He has done it on a video, and his attorney has been making the rounds on networks doing the same.
T.J. Holmes
Yes, he absolutely denies, I think, Robes every bit so far of what has been alleged. But Eric Swalwell is who we're talking about. I think this was one person Robes that a lot of people, if you hear the name, you might not immediately place it, but this is a guy who has gained a lot of prominence in recent years going head to head with President Trump. And I bet a lot of people, as soon as you see his face, you go, oh, yeah, that guy.
Amy Robach
That guy. Yes. He has been a sparring partner, if you will, with President Trump and has certainly been rising the ranks of the Democratic Party and even ran for president. I hadn't realized this early on, dropped out pretty quickly. Joe Biden ended up getting, of course, the nomination, but he has been laying the groundwork for a very powerful political career. He's a married father of three. And this is politically devastating, criminally, potentially even. Who knows what this young woman is willing to do or if she even plans to pursue charges on a criminal level.
T.J. Holmes
So the woman we're talking about is a woman who has now done at least two interviews. She is not naming herself or been named publicly, but she did an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle and then she did an on camera interview with CNN in which, again, she is, she's blacked out. You cannot see her. And they do not name her. Now, robes we talk about now we have the interviews, now we have the stories from these news outlets. But this is a story that had been bubbling at least for the past few weeks on social media with frankly, some social media influencers tracking down the story.
Amy Robach
Yes, because the obvious, most egregious allegation is the allegation of Rape and at least two accounts of sexual assault by the same woman. But some of these social media influencers describe a similar pattern of how they claim he would reach out and speak to some of these young women. DM them move over to Snapchat. And they all describe him being flirtatious and then starting to get more sexually explicit as the conversations continued. So they just called him out, basically. I think once they realized his prominence and that he could very well become potentially the governor of California.
T.J. Holmes
Yeah. So some of those, like you said, ropes it and Snapchat plays into a lot of these allegations. But some of it flirtatious, lewd folks.
Amy Robach
Be honest.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah.
T.J. Holmes
I mean, and stuff that's 100 inappropriate and that had come to light, you would say, yeah, you should probably drop out. It's probably not good look for your wife. You should probably apologize. Yeah, all these things. But we're talking a different level. Something when you talk about a former staffer saying that this congressman raped me and this is. She uses that word. And it's certainly even if she didn't, what she describes is no doubt that this is now raising it to a different level of conversation. Robes that is being taken seriously. And everybody is leading. There is nobody standing by his side right now. They are running as fast as they can away from this guy.
Amy Robach
Yeah. I actually don't remember the exact politician who wrote this, but he actually initially defended him and then went on social media and said, I apologize for initially defending him because once I read further into the allegations, I withdraw any support I gave him. So even the people who maybe initially were questioning the accounts immediately said, yeah, I'm gonna have to go ahead and say I don't stand with this man and he should drop out of the race.
T.J. Holmes
And this is why. Let's get into the allegation now against Eric Swalwell again. He is the lead Democrat in the race for California governor. That race is coming up June 2nd. If I do have. Right.
Amy Robach
Primary.
T.J. Holmes
Correct. But he is in his, I think, seventh term now, representing California, the 14th district there in the Bay Area. You mentioned he's married with three kids. Now, rogues. We go back to 2019 in this allegation in particular. This young woman says she was 20 years old and an intern when she first started working for him. She eventually got herself a junior staffer position. Part of her job robes is she ended up driving him around several places and events he had to go to. And this was one of the first incidents. I think this might be the first that she starts to Describe as inappropriate and going the wrong direction.
Amy Robach
Yes. She talked about again, that same pattern where she claims he started out just flirtatious and complimentary and she liked the attention. It felt nice. It did start to turn sexual and went on to Snapchat. She said the first. Yes. Physical incident happened when she was driving him to an event. She was 21 at the time. She says he told her to pull over in a parking lot and asked her to basically perform oral sex on him. And she said she started to do it and then got uncomfortable and said anyone could see us. And so he, she claims he said, you're right, it's probably not a good look for me to be caught with my pants down.
T.J. Holmes
Hahaha.
Amy Robach
But that was just the beginning. And, and look, she claims, and she admits that that sexual banter continued back and forth where he asked for lewd photos and she sent them to him.
T.J. Holmes
Yeah, she flat out said she liked the attention. She used that phrase herself. She liked the attention. What started out here was he is 100% wrong in starting any back and forth with a woman who started as an intern in your office.
Amy Robach
She's 21, he's 38, I believe at the time.
T.J. Holmes
And again, there is a flat out rule in Congress. No relationship with staffers. It doesn't matter. Anything else? The consensual. Whatever, age appropriate. No. So this is all wrong on his part. All of it. Now, Robes, that's one thing. I think same year though, moving to the more serious allegations.
Amy Robach
Yes. So they went out one night drinking with the group. Drinking plays a huge role in a lot of these allegations.
T.J. Holmes
Like hardcore drinking, not just nights out and having sips. We talk about blackout drunk in how they describe these Ro. Does that play into it? Should it. I don't know. But even she talks about how the heavy drinking plays into it. But yeah, go ahead.
Amy Robach
Yes. So they went from drinking with a group to then going out on their own to several other bars where she says she does not remember what happened that night, but basically woke up naked in his hotel room and she said she could feel that there had been vaginal intercourse. She just said she immediately knew that they had had sex and that he even texted her and said something about, hey, you know, I had fun last night. And she said, I don't remember last night. And that was referenced later in the second incident.
T.J. Holmes
Okay, what Robes, here is this incident? I'm not sure. No, no, no. She says she realized later this is she was too drunk to give consent.
Amy Robach
Correct.
T.J. Holmes
And by law that is a Sexual assault?
Amy Robach
Yes.
T.J. Holmes
Correct. So she's flat out going back to 2019. Now again, night out. She says she doesn't remember how she got from them being out drinking to waking up the next morning. Yeah, she remembers nothing in there. And when I first heard that robes, I thought, wait, is she alleging that he drugged her and that is not the case. We need to make that clear.
Amy Robach
Yeah, no, I think it was just a really night of heavy drinking where she. Yeah, blackout drunk. People talk about it all the time. And this was one of those moments where she realized that obviously something had happened without her consent, but she mostly kept it to herself at that point.
T.J. Holmes
Okay, and this is. Is this the incident where they had a. An event the next day? Yes, this is one where they ended up hiking.
Amy Robach
There was a hiking event the next day. And she said that he completely ignored her and acted like he was. Didn't even know who she was. But then later that night went back on Snapchat, and that's when he said, I had fun last night. And she said, I don't remember last night. So, yeah, she definitely felt, obviously, I would imagine she felt pretty awful about everything that had happened. And certainly being ignored by that person the next day publicly probably stung even more.
T.J. Holmes
All right, so this is 2019. She doesn't continue to work for him through 2024, but the next incident she describes was in 2024. Robes in New York. She hadn't worked for him, my understanding, in years at that point.
Amy Robach
She left the position in 2021. So by the way. So she this. She describes this night in 2019. She continued working for him for a another two years and then left. Went to New York and yes, had a different job and he was speaking in New York, I believe, or was at an event and she went to go attend it.
T.J. Holmes
Okay. Yes, she attends the event. From all accounts, he didn't invite her and didn't even know she was there. But while he is there, she reaches out to him and invites him out. And this was a group initially that went out and once again ended up just them too.
Amy Robach
Yes.
T.J. Holmes
Is that right?
Amy Robach
Yes. And so they went out and again, a night of heavy drinking, going from bar to bar, and eventually, yes, she found herself once again in his hotel room. She says in this incident, she has flashes of memories, and she says she has flashes of him being on top of her. She has flashes of having sex with him. And she has flashes. This is the big thing of her saying no to him to get off her.
T.J. Holmes
This is the one that is. She Describes clearly as rape. She uses the word raped. This man rapes me. Now, what is his reaction to all of this? He did put out a couple of statements. It started yesterday, robes with a written statement and then he ends up putting out a video that's at least a minute and a half long where you actually do see him on camera making a plea. But the first one here is his written statement that we'll share. This is the one they sent out to I believe the news organizations when everybody started asking questions.
Amy Robach
Yes, these allegations are false and come on, the even of an elect of an election against the frontrunner for governor. For nearly 20 years I have served the public as a prosecutor and a congressman and have always protected women. I will defend myself with the facts and where necessary bring legal action. My focus in the coming days is to be with my wife and children and defend our decades of service against these lies.
T.J. Holmes
The legal action part of that, it's understood he sent letters to the news organization cease and desist letters to news organizations saying that these accounts should not be published. Obviously they have been. That's not going to stop. Now the written statement was one thing, but he put out a minute and a half or so and ropes. He looked right to camera and I mean he called him an anonymous allegation. Obviously he has to know who this person is, who this woman is. But he keeps saying false did not happen, never happened. What is he suggesting? Like all of this she's actually making up that they were in a hotel room together even.
Amy Robach
Well, he has to claim that she's making it up completely because yes, he and his lawyer. His lawyer sent a letter to CNN and this is in writing according to cnn, denying the Sawwell has ever had non consensual sex with any woman ever. But here's the big thing. They claim in writing that he has never had sexual relations with any member of his staff. And she is alleging at least the first one, 2019, she was 100% a member of his staff. And actually from the oral sex to the actual intercourse, she was a staffer when she made these or she made the allegations that this happened while she was a staffer, period.
T.J. Holmes
They're not being cute with words here, are they? She was just an intern at the time, so she technically wasn't a part. They're not.
Amy Robach
Well, that would be even worse.
T.J. Holmes
They're not being cute.
Amy Robach
No, I don't think so.
T.J. Holmes
Without being cute here, I can, we can actually say this out loud because it's actually technically true. They're not Being cute here, are they?
Amy Robach
No, I don't think so. And I think the, the issue, I think at least there I would believe that it's a he said, she said thing. There is no proof of sexual relations. Now, there could have been inappropriate sexual misconduct in terms of his text messages. And by the way, these alleged pictures of his penis that he reportedly sent to multiple women were all done on Snapchat. And so they disappear. If, if anyone listening doesn't understand that's kind of the nature of, of that social media platform or that communication platform. And if you take a picture of it, if you screen grab it, it sends a notification to the person who sent it. So we have to take their word for it. Basically, there is no proof.
T.J. Holmes
And too we should mention, if we haven't already, news agencies are reporting they have reviewed text messages and talk to family members and friends that this woman reported to in short order. Correct.
Amy Robach
They said that they felt like they had exceptional corroboration to what she was saying because within days of these events that she describes, friends agree that she told them she was sexually assaulted. She actually sent text messages that they reviewed that basically say at the time these events were reported to have occurred. She talked about it.
T.J. Holmes
All right, so here's the most important line, I guess ropes. And this is the one that's getting headlines from his video statement. Quote, I do not suggest to you in any way that I'm perfect or a saint. I've certainly made mistakes in judgment in my past. But those mistakes are between me and my wife. And to her, I apologize deeply for putting her in this position. What does that mean as it relates to these allegations?
Amy Robach
It means that he's admitting to behaving badly as a husband, to having inappropriate either contact or communication with women who were not his wife. But that doesn't mean he's admitting to having sexual intercourse with a staffer or sexual intercourse with any of these women. He just might have been too flirty, you know, I mean, who knows what he's saying here. But it certainly at least some of these text messages that we've seen, he's admitting, it seems as though to having some sort of inappropriate behavior around women.
T.J. Holmes
His lawyer was asked about that in an interview with CNN and didn't address that stuff directly. What are you saying? He cheated on his wife. And the. But this he said, look, I'll let it. So he skipped right over that. So we don't have clarity on what that means. But Robes, he says these allegations are flat false. They did not happen. They Never happened. You are robes to me. That is categorically denying every single word that's come out of this woman's mouth about the incident in the car, about the incident in 2019, about the one in New York. Two people. Somebody is looking at us in line.
Amy Robach
Yes. And by the way, we should point out this young woman, the second incident in New York in 2024, when she was not his staffer. She describes a. A fairly brutal day after where she said she had bruises on her body, she was bleeding, and she ended up going to the hospital and got checked for pregnancy STDs. And she was in a relationship at the time. I don't know if she's still with the same guy, but she told him about the assault. So it's. I mean, this is the second one especially she describes as fairly violent.
T.J. Holmes
We'll stay here. We will also, also want to tell you what the other women who have come forward, what those allegations are as well. And we'll tell you what the reaction has been. Some of the biggest names in politics in this country and some of the biggest Democrats are saying that this man needs to get out of the race to hear.
Danny Trejo
I went and sat on the little ottoman in front of him.
Charlamagne Tha God
Hi, dad.
Danny Trejo
And just when I said that, my mom comes out of the kitchen and she says, I have some cookies and milk. This is badass, convict, right? Just finished five years. I'm gonna have cookies and milk at mall.
Cino Show Host
On the Cino show podcast, each episode invites you into a raw, unfiltered conversations about recovery, resilience and redemption. On a recent episode, I sit down with actor cultural icon Danny Trejo to talk about addiction transformation and the power of second chances. The entire season two is now available to binge, featuring powerful conversations with guests like Tiffany Haddish, Johnny Knoxville, and more.
Danny Trejo
I'm an alcoholic, and without this probe, I'm gonna die.
Cino Show Host
Open your free iHeartRadio app, search the Cino show, and listen.
Charlamagne Tha God
Now.
Zoe Spencer
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 leveling up.
Zoe Spencer
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.
Community Expert
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 Wild Broke from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Bob Pittman
Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia, and I'm kicking off a brand new season of my podcast, Math and Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. Math and Magic takes you behind the scenes of the biggest businesses and industries while sharing insights from the smartest minds in marketing. I'm talking to leaders from the entertainment industry to finance, and everywhere in between this season of Math and Magic, I'm talking to CEO of Liquid Death, Mike Cesario, financier and public health advocate Mike Milken. Take Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick.
T.J. Holmes
If you're unable to take meaningful creative risk and therefore run the risk of making horrible creative mistakes, then you can't play in this business.
Bob Pittman
Sesame Street CEO Sherry Weston and our own Chief Business Officer, Lisa Coffey.
Amy Robach
Making consumers see the value of the human voice and to have that guaranteed human promise behind it really makes it rise to the top.
Bob Pittman
Listen to Math and Magic stories from the frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Nick Dick
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 Poll show, we're not afraid to make mistakes. What Coogler did that I think was so unique.
T.J. Holmes
Who's he?
Nick Dick
He's the writer director.
Poll
Who do you think he is?
Charlamagne Tha God
I don't know.
Poll
You meet the, like the president, you think the president. You think Canada has a president? You think China has a president, you think the La Crusette. God, I love that thing. I use it all the time.
Nick Dick
What color?
Poll
I wrap it in a blanket and sing to it at night.
Nick Dick
It's like the old Polish saying, not my monkeys, not my circus. Yep, it was a good one.
T.J. Holmes
I like that saying.
Poll
It's an actual Polish saying.
T.J. Holmes
It is an actual Polish.
Poll
Better version of Play stupid Games, win stupid prizes. Yes. Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift who said that for the first time. I actually. I thought it was. I got that wrong?
Nick Dick
Listen to the Nick Dick and poll show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
T.J. Holmes
All right, we continue here on Amy and TJ with Congressman Swalwell, the leading Democrat, at least in the race for California governor, now being accused of rape by a former staffer, also being accused of inappropriate behavior by some other women as well. And Robes, he called himself the front runner. We need to make sure that's in context. The way it works out there, the top two vote getters who are running, doesn't matter who they are, Democrat or Republican, end up being the two that go head to head. He's running about third.
Amy Robach
Right. Because it's two Republicans who are at the top right now. Correct. But. So he's the leading Democrat.
T.J. Holmes
He is.
Amy Robach
And this is in the primary. So, yes, the only. The top two move forward. But yes, there are other women who also have come out and look, they say they were emboldened by one another. So one woman sees another woman's account and says, oh, my goodness, that happened to me. I thought I was the only one. And that's what all of them had said. They thought that they were singularly the object of his affection. They didn't realize that other women were also experiencing something similar. And so, yes, initially all of these women, I believe, said they were flattered by the attention and also kind of a little surprised. This one woman, Ali Samarco, these are some social media influencers. And so she liked something and then he DMs her. And again, initially they described being kind of taken aback, like actually thinking maybe they're being catfished. They can't believe a US Congressman is DMing them just because they like to post. And that's how these communications began. At least that's how these women describe it. And it quickly turned into flirtation to then pictures of him in bed, pictures of his penis. It's, it's a, it's a pattern. It seems at least these women are all consistent in what they're describing.
T.J. Holmes
Again, we don't want to downplay some of the allegations of these other women. All of this describes some inappropriate. It's the best way to put it. Behavior.
Amy Robach
An abuse of power, for sure.
T.J. Holmes
Yeah. And it doesn't rise to. Excuse me, I just, I don't want to downplay what they're saying. But based on the allegations from the staffer, it's why some of these others aren't getting necessarily the same attention. Yeah, it's. The other stuff is just, it's terrible.
Amy Robach
And one of, one of the women actually met with him and he, she was, she was actually in a relationship and she said she saw him getting really flirty. They were in a booth, they were drinking once again. And she said she started talking about his wife and his kids and trying to ask him questions about his family so that he would get the idea that she was there solely to talk about business and just politics. And he started to put his hand on her thigh, tried to kiss her. So yes, but she didn't take the bait. But still described being very uncomfortable.
T.J. Holmes
Sounds like Adam Schiff, Hakeem Jeffries, Nancy Pelosi, they are all uncomfortable as well because these are again, you know those names, but these are have been big time supporters of Swalwell who are now saying he should get out of this race. Hakeem Jeffries has called on him to do so. Schiff has pulled his support and seiu, the biggest all influential union out there in California pull their support. The California Teachers association robes doesn't want anything to do with him. So all. I mean, I don't know how you. I mean, does this matter? Should we even be talking about a race? I mean these guys got some work to do with his family and this guy's got might. Again, I don't know how the. She came forward and she's speaking. I'm not sure criminally what she's pursuing exactly.
Amy Robach
Because that's where I was thinking politically, obviously this is catastrophic. Politically, he's going to have to wake up and recognize the situation he's in. And this is, this is not survivable, period. It just is not survivable. Now, could this be criminal? That is a question that we don't know the answer to yet. But Nancy Pelosi put it very clearly to him. She said that she told him, yeah, this investigation needs to take place outside of a gubernatorial campaign. And that's really probably the best way to put it.
T.J. Holmes
It's an interesting way to put it without saying get out, say yes, we need to look into this, but not why you're running for governor.
Amy Robach
Yeah, this is. Those two things just don't go well together.
T.J. Holmes
And look, we always Robes in these cases, they do get complicated because you always want to encourage. You always want every woman comfortable coming forward and feeling safe and feeling like she will be listened to, at least first, at least in minimum listened to before we even get to believed. Some women aren't even listened to in the first place. But you have this story robed. You have to. This is Politics. Is this a case where you hear this and you just have to automatically, we believe her, and that means he should lose everything that he's worked for. I mean, we should just believe her and that's the end of it. I mean, what she describes is not survivable. But in a case like this, with something this high stakes, how much do you examine? How much do you lend credibility or careful about it because of the stakes, or does it just an automatic we believe her, Swalwell, you're done.
Amy Robach
Well, you know what? I think if it were just the one former staffer, it might be a little more. Does she. You'd have to look into it a little further. Does she have a motivation? Is she being, you know, of course the allegations are going to be that this is, you know, maga. This is the, you know, the right trying to take him down. And sure, I'm not naive enough to think that that can't happen and doesn't happen, but when you have four women and look, they're varying accounts, but there's a similar pattern. This is serious. And voters need to be able to take that into consideration if he wants to stay in the race, because this is a problem. If you see a man who abuses his power and you have four women now saying he did just that.
T.J. Holmes
You just said it. Ropes stay on the ballot, knock yourself out, and voters can do whatever they want to do. Yeah. Who should be telling him to drop out of the race or not? Yes. Maybe it's the right thing for his family. Maybe it's the right thing for these women. But let the voters decide. Who are we to say?
Amy Robach
They can listen to the women themselves, they can read the accounts, and they can decide who to choose when they
T.J. Holmes
go to the polls and who to believe. And that is a very good point. All right, folks, we want to hop on. On this one. This was an ext. Explosive story in politics that was, I guess, like we said, had been boiling, a bubbling, I should say, for the past couple of weeks, but completely finally boiled over yesterday. We always appreciate you spending some time with us. For my dear Amy roach, I am T.J. holmes. Talk soon.
Amy Robach
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
Podcast: Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes Present
Episode: Top Democrat in CA Gov Race Accused of Sexual Assault by Former Staffer
Date: April 11, 2026
In this explosive episode, Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes break down the major political and criminal allegations facing California Congressman Eric Swalwell, the leading Democrat in the upcoming California gubernatorial race. A former staffer has accused Swalwell of rape and sexual assault, with additional women coming forward alleging inappropriate behavior. Amy and T.J. dissect the evolving story, detail the specific allegations, share reactions from prominent Democrats, and debate the consequences for Swalwell’s campaign and broader political culture.
Swalwell’s Position and Rise:
Nature of Accusations:
On the Power Imbalance:
“There is a flat out rule in Congress. No relationship with staffers. It doesn't matter. Anything else? ...All of it. Now, Robes, that's one thing. I think same year though, moving to the more serious allegations.” — T.J. Holmes [09:07]
On Corroboration:
“They felt like they had exceptional corroboration... friends agree that she told them she was sexually assaulted. She actually sent text messages that they reviewed.” — Amy Robach [16:33]
On Broader Patterns:
“One woman sees another woman’s account and says, oh my goodness, that happened to me. I thought I was the only one.” — Amy Robach [24:05]
“It’s a pattern. It seems at least these women are all consistent in what they’re describing.” — Amy Robach [25:01]
On Political Consequences:
“This is catastrophic... Politically, he's going to have to wake up and recognize the situation he's in. And this is, this is not survivable, period.” — Amy Robach [26:52]
On Voter Responsibility:
“They can listen to the women themselves, they can read the accounts, and they can decide who to choose when they go to the polls and who to believe.” — Amy Robach [29:22]
Robach and Holmes maintain a critical yet careful tone, emphasizing the gravity of the allegations and the necessity of both believing women and upholding due process in high-stakes political situations. They highlight the difficult tension between the severity of claims, the lack of physical evidence due to digital messaging, and the real-time crumbling of Swalwell’s campaign and support structure.
The episode offers a comprehensive breakdown of the sexual assault allegations against Eric Swalwell, highlighting the accuser’s specific claims, the supporting evidence, the response from Swalwell and his team, and the sweeping political fallout. Robach and Holmes provide thoughtful commentary on the broader implications for politics and the complexities in cases of alleged sexual misconduct by public officials.