Reports: Ex-Staffers’ Sexual Misconduct, NDA Claims Loom Over Swalwell Campaign
Although Hunt is a Democrat, she does not “believe in holding Republicans to a different standard than we are willing to uphold ourselves. No more predators in power, from either party, period.”
You have to wonder whether Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) actually believed he could skate into California’s governor’s mansion without any meaningful scrutiny of his past conduct. It’s plausible he assumed that, as a Democrat running in a reliably blue state, earlier controversies would be largely overlooked.
But in the wake of his attorneys’ vigorous — and very public — efforts to block the FBI’s release of the Fang Fang files, along with recent revelations about campaign funds allegedly used to pay his wife for “babysitting” their children, a new scandal now threatens to derail his gubernatorial ambitions.
Over the weekend, Democratic attorney Cheyenne Hunt — a former Swalwell staffer, liberal podcaster, and executive director of the left-leaning nonprofit Gen-Z for Change — posted a damning thread on X outlining allegations of sexual misconduct and non-disclosure agreement abuse involving a “pretty shocking” number of his former interns and aides.
Hunt claimed that she has been working “with a number of women who are in the process of coming forward and sharing their stories of sexual harassment and even alleged abuse at the hands of Eric Swalwell.
“I got involved because the first victim who approached me is a close friend, but when I saw that there were others who’s experiences fit the same pattern of manipulation and abuse of power, I knew I couldn’t stay silent,” she wrote.
Hunt alleged that Swalwell “target[ed] employees, interns, and fans,” and “act[ed] as a mentor just to exploit that power. DMs and Snapchat messages. Allegations ranging from uncomfortable comments to potentially criminal conduct.”
After she spoke publicly about her friend’s experience, she said, “many brave women came forward and shared their stories with me.” Hunt was able to obtain pro bono legal representation for these women and “they are in the process of sharing information with reporters.”
We have secured pro bono legal representation for them and they are in the process of sharing information with reporters and ensuring that they are physically and legally safe. That process takes time.
— Cheyenne Hunt (@CheyenneHuntCA) April 6, 2026
According to Hunt:
The number of credible women who have come forward since I posted my video is pretty shocking and connecting them with the investigative reporting teams who have been working on breaking this for years has greatly expedited this process. I am confident this story will break soon.
…
I spoke about this before the story broke to encourage other women to come forward and to help ensure this story breaks as soon as possible because I am not blind to the fact that this will obviously have implications in the CA governor’s race.
She emphasized that she is well aware of the risk she is “taking by speaking out publicly and [the] fact that if I were to lie about a powerful public figure on a platform of my size, I could easily be subject to a defamation lawsuit.”
Hunt further noted that, although she is a Democrat, she does not “believe in holding Republicans to a different standard than we are willing to uphold ourselves. No more predators in power, from either party, period.”
One more key point I want to share: I am an attorney. I am well aware of the risk I am taking by speaking out publicly and that fact that if I were to lie about a powerful public figure on a platform of my size, I could easily be subject to a defamation lawsuit.
— Cheyenne Hunt (@CheyenneHuntCA) April 6, 2026
Just over a year ago, independent journalist Nick Sortor reported he had sat next to “a very inebriated” Swalwell at a Washington, D.C., restaurant the previous evening.
Below are excerpts from Sortor’s description of Eric Swalwell’s conduct during dinner. The account, posted on X, includes a video of Sortor confronting him the next morning on Capitol Hill.
I sat next to a drunk Swalwell at dinner for 90 minutes. He was IMMEDIATELY compromised by a group of lobbyists he’d JUST MET, spilling intimate details about his job and asking for HELP CHEATING ON HIS WIFE.
MASSIVE national security threat. This guy should have his clearances revoked.
Swalwell spent his dinner bragging about “ORGlES” on Capitol Hill, telling them he’s bored of his wife and “only wants to f*ck tens.”
Worse, he spoke about ABUSlNG his power on the House Intel Committee (which he’s since been booted off of), saying he pushed to SUBPOENA Ivanka Trump because she’s “hot as f*ck.”
🚨 #BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: Eric Swalwell PANICS when I ask about his Chinese spy girlfriend Fang Fang, and whether that’s a bigger “national security threat” than Elon Musk
I sat next to a drunk Swalwell at dinner for 90 minutes. He was IMMEDIATELY compromised by a group of… pic.twitter.com/DeZg3EJphW
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 25, 2025
The story received surprisingly little attention from the legacy media at the time. But several conservative outlets, including RedState and BizPacReview, reported on it.
Considered in the context of the new allegations of sexual misconduct reported by Hunt, Sortor’s account may come back to bite Swalwell.
California will hold a “jungle primary” in the gubernatorial race on June 2, with all candidates — regardless of party — competing on a single ballot. The top two finishers will advance to a November runoff.
The RealClearPolitics polling average currently shows former Fox News host Steve Hilton, a Republican, leading the race with 14.7%. Eric Swalwell follows closely at 13.7%, while another Republican, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, is hot on his heels with 13%.
Rounding out the field are former Rep. Katie Porter (D) at 11.3%, billionaire businessman Tom Steyer (D) at 10.3%, former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra at 4.3%, and former California Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa at 4%.
The looming allegations against Swalwell have the potential to knock him out of the race. Although no one knows where those votes would go, it is entirely possible that Californians could elect a Republican governor in November. And that would be a beautiful thing.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
How could anybody be this stupid?
Oh, yes. Drunk Swallwell. Dimocrat. Fang Fang.
Never mind.
.
That’s Eric “Stupid” Fang-Swalwell to you!
He is a Democrat and worse, a democrat from California. He most likely thought nothing he did would ever stop his reelection. DiFi was flat out senile in a wheelchair and they left her in office
He has never come across as intelligent. He’s a blowhard and a bully, and never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined he would become the target of some very credible accusations.
Believe no woman, is the lesson of the last decade.
That’s as stupid as “believe all women”.
I’d believe Baghdad Bob on crack, meth, heroin, and fentanyl over swalwell.
Nah, the key lesson is believe the independent evidence but ignore all the attempts at emotional manipulation, the weaponized tears and the theatrical, stage managed presentations of unsupported claims.
No police report? No contemporaneous claim? Waited until years after the alleged incident to come forward? No witnesses? No independent evidence? Didn’t bother to tell anyone until someone is running for or about to be confirmed to high office? Sorry that sets off too many BS detectors. Doesn’t mean it didn’t happen but it does mean it is unable to be proven and without evidence it is no more than an unsupported accusation.
While I think Swalwell is the scum of the earth, I wonder how much Cheyenne Hunt is being paid and by whom to do this. It reminds me of the Cassidy Hutchinson case against President Trump, and now we’re learning that Liz Cheney put her up to it.
I’m skeptical. I’m not saying there is nothing there but the timing is suspicious and Hunt gives zero information other than vague statements. She sounds more like an attention ho trying to drum up views for her podcast. As for “NDA abuse” there is none. Don’t sign one if you don’t want to, your an adult.
This whole thing reminds me of Herman Cain. Remember him? While running for President a bunch of women came out of the woodwork accusing him of all kinds of sexual misconduct. The women and all allegations magically disappeared when he dropped out of the race. Can’t have a black conservative get anywhere, can we?
Trump’s New York conviction revolved around hush money paid to Stormy Daniels. Seems like prosecutors need to be looking into those NDAs, any payments made in exchange for the NDAs, what was the source for those payments and how they were accounted.
NDA’s are not illegal.
They are if the payments came from his Congressional office budget or his campaign funds.
There is no allegation of that.
But their production by accusers lends weight to their claims, because Swalwell’s campaign is denying the NDA’s existence.
They are illegal if he logged them as “legal expenses” and not “campaign expenditures,” That’s precisely how they engineered Trump’s “felonies.”
Excellent! We all knew he was a scumbag and there was evidence to corroborate that. Pile it on. Ruin him for life!!
With that many Democrats competing for the brass ring, it is a sure thing his rivals will pile on and try to take him out of the running. It would be funny though, if such efforts just made him go up in the polls. For a Democrat, sexual peccadilloes are a badge of honor.
“Democratic attorney Cheyenne Hunt — a former Swalwell staffer, liberal podcaster, and executive director of the left-leaning nonprofit Gen-Z for Change”
Yeah, with a profile like that? Standard Democrat hive-mind playbook says this NEVER happens… unless she’s on the payroll of some primary competitor, at which point it’s OK.
If I were his lawyer, I would claim that he should be found not guilty
by reason of mental defect: Utter Stupidity.
That’s not ordinarily a proper legal defense posture, but it just might fly, especially if his various public speeches, tweets on X, and live TV farts are presented in court as evidence.
I, unfortunately, live in California. Have for 45 years.
No way this state elects a Republican to any statewide office. First, the GOP is vestigial in this state. At best. Second, if it even looks like a remote possibility the fix will go in. Don’t ask me how, but it will happen.
The odds are neither Hilton nor Bianco will be on the ballot. If one makes it, they will lose by 20 pts.
Combination of insane voters, crazy judges and out and out corruption
Re-look at that headline?
The sexual misconduct is by his ex-staffers? I thought it was against his staffers?
The claims are the staffers’. A poor opportunity for parallelism.
Also, there was a video of VDH on a podcast (The Alex Marlow Show) stating Fang Fang had come to his office at the Brookings Institute (IIRC). It was the most obvious honeytrap ever. He kept a research assistant in his office the whole time, as well as leaving the door open. The best quote is “You would have to be a stupid, narcissistic idiot to fall for that.”
Hoover.
“Rounding out the field are former Rep. Katie Porter (D) at 11.3%,…..”
I see what you did there!
That said, Swalwell looks like a guy with terminal halitosis. It matches his flatulence.
Same source
Typical Democrat
I’m surprised he wasn’t outed by their “metoo” movement.
That was fun: Every day was like Christmas. You’d wake up eager and excited every morning, and rush to the computer to go online and see which prominent liberal celebrities had been outed as rapists that day.
As someone noted above, there’s a good chance this is being generated by a Dem rival in the gov race. But go ahead, there is no one more deserving.
“The story received surprisingly little attention from the legacy media at the time.”
It would have been a far bigger surprise if they had reported malfeasance by a Dem.
In this day and age especially since it appears the allegations stem from conduct during the height of MeToo I’m just a tad leery any women would put up with sexual misconduct from a man considering just the allegation would be enough to ruin him. All the “former staffers” could have come forward while he was in Congress and availed themselves of that giant secret pot of gold House members have access to to pay off and keep quiet these claims. Why are they suddenly coming out now?
a right wing consipracyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Why the deafening silence from feminists? Don’t they believe all women even when its Dem males accused?
There is plenty of evidence that California Democrats will vote for anyone who can publicly and loudly express their cherished TDS narrative. That is the only qualification that matters to them, all other factors are either irrelevant or dismissed as Republican hate speech to distract from their own nefarious behavior. Since these voters only accept information from media that affirm their delusions, they will be unaffected by any other evidence, and once he gets the nomination the State and National Party machinery will be fully geared up to ensure his success by generating the necessary votes by all the means used so successfully in the past. Which is exactly how a failed San Francisco politician became the present failed California governor, now aspiring to become a future failed U.S. president.