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“The View” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin claimed on Wednesday that she was privately disturbed by allegedly seeing California Rep. Eric Swalwell “overserved” with alcohol at an event.
Swalwell has ended his campaign for California governor and resigned from Congress after he was accused of sexual assault, as well as multiple reports alleging other misconduct with women. He has acknowledged “mistakes in judgment” but claimed the assault allegations against him are false.
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg noted that Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, one of Swalwell’s closest friends and allies, “admitted there were rumors about Swalwell’s flirtatious behavior for years.”
“Eric Swalwell lied to all of us,” Gallego said at an impromptu press conference in his office earlier this week. “He lied to the most powerful people in this country, and they trusted him. They trusted him with some of the most sensitive spots in our government, whether it was on Judiciary Committee, Intel Committee, impeaching Donald Trump.”
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He later added that this “clouded my judgment, my friendship with him,” he continued. “Our family’s friendship together with him clouded my judgment. And I was wrong. I deeply, deeply regret that.”
Griffin noted reports that Swalwell’s alleged misconduct was not a surprise to many observers, including herself.
“I do think the rumors matter, because, to be honest, I had heard and even experienced — nothing wrong or criminal — but I’ve been with Eric Swalwell when he seemed overserved,” she said, “I’m not saying something that I wouldn’t have said to his face, and I filed it away. Just as a woman, you pay attention when you’re like, ‘This is a business setting. This is something I’m not super comfortable with.'”
“People who even had a little inkling should have stepped up and said something, and if you knew of something wrong, something criminal, you absolutely needed to,” Griffin added.
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Griffin noted Monday that even the appearance of misconduct is not only a source of personal scandal, but can make one a vulnerable target for America’s enemies.
“Swalwell sat on the Intel Committee, and there were allegations he had a suspected Chinese spy, Fang Fang, who was associated with him in his office,” she said. “Now, he was not found to have engaged in wrongdoing, but to me, my spidey senses from having worked at the Pentagon go off, which is it was an open secret that he had issues with women, that he was somebody who was susceptible, potentially to heavy drinking, to impropriety with women.”
“America’s adversaries look for how to exploit that,” Griffin added. “So that, to me, pinpoints it was openly known. Nobody did anything about it. But thank God that now Democrats, Adam Schiff and others have called for him to step aside, and he did the right thing by doing it.”
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Swalwell’s PR representatives and legal representation did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
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