WASHINGTON -- Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) summoned reporters to his office on Tuesday to disavow his friendship with Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) in an unusual, emotional and direct press conference.
Facing multiple accusations of sexual assault, Swalwell abandoned his campaign for governor of California over the weekend and announced he would resign from the House of Representatives on Monday. Swalwell and Gallego, both elected to Congress in 2014, were close friends and Gallego served as the chair of Swalwell's brief campaign for president in 2019.
Speaking in clipped sentences and at one moment choking up, Gallego said he knew nothing of Swalwell's alleged behavior.
"Eric Swalwell lied to all of us. He lied to the most powerful people in this country, and they trusted him," Gallego said, referring to Swalwell's positions on powerful House committees and as a manager of one of the impeachment cases against President Donald Trump. "They trusted him with the most sensitive spots in our government."
"That clouded my judgment, my friendship with him, our family's friendship together with him clouded my judgment, and I was wrong. I deeply, deeply regret that," Gallego said.
Gallego denied rumors about Swalwell's alleged misconduct last week. But after reading a San Francisco Chronicle story where a congressional staffer said Swalwell sexually assaulted her, Gallego said he called Swalwell and told him to "get out" of politics. He told reporters "there is no friendship" now and they've had no further contact.
Gallego, one of several Democrats with possible presidential ambitions, said his family had been close with Swalwell's and that their kids played baseball together. In a video clip from a few months ago that's now being circulated by Republicans, Swalwell called Gallego his best friend in the world.
Pressed by a reporter how he could have missed a pattern of behavior allegedly spanning several years, with accusations from at least five women, including one who said Tuesday that Swalwell drugged, raped and choked her, Gallego said his former friend had become a skilled manipulator.
"He became very good at being a predator, and he clearly preyed on these women in different positions," Gallego said. "And he became extremely professional, lying to us, lying to his family, lying to his community."
Asked by HuffPost how Swalwell could have gotten away with such behavior in the wake of the Me Too movement, which prompted Congress to rewrite its own rules -- including by banning romantic relationships between lawmakers and their staff -- Gallego said Congress needs to try again.
"It means that we have to go back and make that better, because clearly there's holes in this," Gallego said. "We haven't created an environment through the legislation to make women, especially staffers, feel like they could come and talk to somebody and not have any repercussions."
Republicans, who continue to attack Gallego over his links to Swalwell, unsuccessfully attempted to make the breakup of the Arizonan's first marriage, to now-Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, an issue when Ruben ran for Senate in 2024. Kate Gallego endorsed Ruben's bid for Senate. Gallego said Tuesday he believed Republicans were now using Swalwell to run that same playbook against him.
Another reporter asked Gallego if he'd engaged in any inappropriate sexual contact with his staff or any women outside of his marriage.