By Svea Herbst-Bayliss
NEW YORK, April 12 (Reuters) – U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell, a front-runner candidate for California governor, faced mounting calls to resign from Congress on Sunday as some of his fellow Democrats urged him to leave following accusations of sexual assault.
In separate TV interviews on Sunday morning talk shows, Democratic Representatives Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna and Eugene Vindman each said Swalwell should quit Congress.
Their comments came two days after The San Francisco Chronicle and CNN reported that a woman who previously worked in Swalwell’s district office accused him of two nonconsensual sexual encounters.
CNN also reported that three other women made sexual misconduct allegations against Swalwell, who represents a California district.
Swalwell has denied the accusations nL6N40U00G as “absolutely false” and vowed to fight them.
Also on Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency confirmed it has looked into allegations that Swalwell illegally employed a Brazilian nanny.
“These allegations are serious. USCIS has referred this matter to the Department of Homeland Security law enforcement for investigation,” a USCIS spokesperson told Reuters in a statement.
Swalwell’s office did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the probe.
Politico first reported the USCIS probe.
His fellow lawmakers focused on Swalwell’s future in their chamber.
“What he did is sick and disgusting,” Khanna told “Fox News Sunday” while calling for law enforcement and House ethics investigations of Swalwell.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office L1N40V005 on Saturday confirmed it is investigating the sexual assault allegations.
Leading Democrats have previously called on Swalwell to drop out of the California governor’s race. As pressure grows on him to also resign from Congress, some lawmakers have said they would back a motion to expel him from the House of Representatives if he does not leave on his own.
Representative Byron Donalds, a Republican from Florida appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” and Jayapal, a representative from Washington also appearing on “Meet the Press,” each said on Sunday they would vote to expel Swalwell from Congress if such a vote came up.
In a social media post on Saturday, Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, wrote that she planned to file a motion to expel Swalwell from Congress. She told Fox News she would file the disciplinary motion next week.
Another Democrat, Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick https://www.reuters.com/world/us/democratic-lawmaker-himes-calls-indicted-colleague-cherfilus-mccormick-resign-2026-03-29/, a Florida representative, also faces a potential expulsion vote after a House panel recently concluded she violated ethics rules. A grand jury indicted her in November after she was accused of stealing pandemic relief funds and directing that money to her 2021 congressional campaign.
Cherfilus-McCormick’s office did not immediately return a request for comment. She has previously denied wrongdoing.
While Luna and other Republicans have called for expelling Swalwell and Cherfilus-McCormick, Democrats have been calling for an expulsion of Representative Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican being investigated by the House over sexual misconduct allegations.
Gonzales’ office did not immediately return a request for comment. Last month, he said he would not seek re-election later this year.
Donalds told “Meet the Press” he wants to see Swalwell and Gonzales leave. “As far as I’m concerned both gentlemen need to go home,” Donalds said.
While calling on Swalwell to resign, Khanna told Fox he also believes “there are other members (of Congress) and Republican members who should resign as well,” such as Gonzales.
(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss with additional reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington D.C. and Renee Hickman in Chicago; Editing by Aurora Ellis, Sergio Non and Chris Reese)
Comments