Disgraced ex-Congressman Eric Swalwell’s “best friend” on Capitol Hill, Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, admitted he had heard rumors that Swalwell was “flirty” with women — but never confronted him about it.
Swalwell resigned from his California congressional seat on Tuesday after five women accused him of sexual misconduct and rape, which Gallego said completely blindsided him after Swalwell insisted the allegations were fake.
“I fell for it,” the Democrat said outside of his office in Washington, DC, adding that Swalwell “became very good at being a predator” and “extremely proficient at lying to us, lying to his family, lying to his community.”
Gallego said Swalwell was known to be “flirty” with women, but after spending so much time with Swalwell’s wife and family, he began to think it was maybe not a fair characterization of the man he knew as a friend.
When asked if he should have done something when he first heard the “rumors,” Gallego conceded, “I should have talked to him about it.”
“I trusted this man,” the senator said in the emotional remarks where he at times appeared about to break into tears.
“It hurts the fact that he hurt a lot of people. And it pisses me off that now we all have to deal with all of his BS, his family, the poor victims that are still going to have to seek justice,” Gallego added.
“I fell for it like everyone else. I fell for the lies. I regret it. But that’s what happened.”
Swalwell, who was also the front-runner in the race to be the next governor of California before the scandal erupted, filed his resignation from Congress with the clerk of the House of Representatives on Tuesday after a fifth woman came forward and accused him of sexual misconduct.
Swalwell has denied all the allegations.
