Shortly before California’s frontrunner for governor announced his resignation from Congress, his best friend publicly demanded it.
At 2 pm sharp on Monday, Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego called on his friend of over a decade, Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, to be expelled from Congress in an X post. Less than a week ago Gallego had been defending Swalwell against social media allegations of sexual assault.
All that changed last Friday when the press added their weight to the allegations by going to print with further details. The report defied the Friday news dump. Rumors touching on the dark side of Congress in general began to leak over the weekend.
“I trusted someone who I believed was a friend, but it is now clear that he is not the person I thought I knew,” said Gallego.
It appears the loss of his best friend was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Swalwell — the camel referenced not being one of the dromedaries that the pair rode together shirtless while on a paid-for trip to Qatar in 2021.
25 minutes after Gallego’s public challenge of expulsion, Swalwell announced his resignation from Congress. Not 24 hours earlier he had suspended his gubernatorial campaign, the seat widely thought to be his for easy taking until last week.
“Expelling anyone in Congress without due process, within days of an allegation made, is wrong,” said Swalwell. “But it’s also wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties. Therefore, I plan to resign my seat in Congress.”
Some speculate the timing of the resignation was to avoid the discoveries that would take place under the House Ethics Committee investigation announced ahead of Gallego’s and Swalwell’s posts on Monday.
Eric Swalwell is resigning in order to avoid a House Ethics Committee investigation + document production.
Swalwell needs to release all of his communications with @RubenGallego + travel itineraries during which he had contact with Gallego.https://t.co/msGcao47zb
— Brian Anderson (@AZBrianAnderson) April 13, 2026
Over the weekend, some took to social media and the press to name more names.
Former representative George Santos alleged Gallego and others were rumored as the elected officials who frequented “the cages” for sexual forays — storage rooms within the House basement office buildings.
When I was in Congress I used to talk to Staff and reporters on the Hill a lot.
During that time I learned about the activities taking place in the “cages” which are the storage rooms in the basement of the House office buildings.
I reported it to House Admin Chair at the time…
— George Santos (@Georgesantos) April 13, 2026
More evidence also emerged confirming Swalwell’s partyboy lifestyle. One video showed Swalwell engaging in sexual acts with a woman on a bed.
Next to Swalwell on the bed was an unidentified man wearing custom black Nike Air Force 1 shoes. Social media users questioned whether the profile of the man belonged to Gallego. No pictures available online in recent years indicate that Gallego owned that custom type of shoe, or anything similar to it.
One shop that specializes in a strikingly similar design of Air Force 1s is located in Washington, D.C., called “Rose Customs” on eBay.
Video exists showing someone that could be Eric Swalwell on a bed with another woman, possibly a prostitute, and another man. Authenticity of video has not been established. Video has been credited to Martin Shkreli. Reports claim the woman is Shkreli's wife and the man could… pic.twitter.com/8DUIBiI9pD
— coltswalker (@coltswalker) April 13, 2026
Swalwell’s affiliation with the unknown man from the video may be tied to his membership with the Congressional Sneaker Caucus: a niche group of sneaker enthusiasts advocating for more comfortable footwear up the hill.
Another video that resurfaced showed Swalwell aboard a party-fueled yacht trip in 2022, posted by Nik Lamas-Richie (Hooman Abedi Karamian), the Scottsdale-based Internet personality who founded the once-popular, now-defunct gossip website “The Dirty.”
“Leave future California Governor Eric Swalwell alone,” stated Lamas-Richie. “He is a good guy (sarcasm).”
Sen. Gallego has denied any knowledge of Swalwell’s sexual deviancy or extramarital trysts.
Instead, Gallego told CNN that Swalwell “led a double life” and had “tricked” him.
When Gallego answered Reporters questions, he acted just like a Kid who has not yet been caught, but is GUILTY.
Anyone who’s been a Parent has seen this type of behavior…lol
Sargent Schultz Gallego, “I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing” as I throw my buddy under the bus. And he calls himself a Marine. Amazing….
G down the same drain – just a matter of time
In the pages of Phoenix News, February twenty-seventh, two thousand nine,
a headline cracked like a gavel on stone—
Ruben Gallego, rising star, left his wife nine months swollen,
papers slapped down while the cradle waited alone.
No warning, no whisper, just the door swinging shut,
her belly a battlefield, the future cut. He walked into the desert heat of Arizona light,
carrying the name that still echoes at night.
Familial ghosts trail him like cartel dust on the wind—
Mexican shadows, uncles and cousins pinned
to the trade that bleeds borders and stacks the dead high,
a bloodline he swears he outran, yet it clings to his tie. Now the cameras roll and the microphones wait as Eric Swalwell’s double life detonates—
mistresses, spies, the midnight double game,
the kind of scandal that blackens a name.
Ruben feigns shock, eyes wide as a choirboy’s prayer:
“My best friend? How could he? I had no idea!” The same mouth that once kissed a pregnant wife goodbye now gasps at the secrets his brother-in-arms kept dry.
The man who sealed divorce files tighter than cartel vaults pretends he never smelled the rot in the halls.
Oh Ruben, you master of selective surprise,
abandoner of cradles, inheritor of lies—
the desert forgives no one, least of all those who preach virtue while the old debts still grow.
From Phoenix ’09 to the Senate floor’s gleam, your story’s a mirror no polish can clean.
The wife you deserted still carries the scar; the cartels keep ledgers, no matter how far;
and Swalwell’s mask slips, but yours stays in place— a politician’s smile on a traitor’s face.
Bravo!
You should write a book! Spot on!
Another politician that is not only a burden for AZ but is becoming a liability. Where are the voters demanding his resignation? Do they agree with him? If not, why do not they get out and say so?
I thought that gallopsgus was getting out from
the headline. Too nab it only focused on swallowwell
Its time ALL politicians be voted out and new
dependble (if there are any) put in place. We know
they only run for office is the $$$$ not the
people particularly those that vote party
only
What are friends for?
Gallego is just as dirty. Divorced his pregnant wife while she was in the hospital.
Birds of a feather flock together.
What other Open Secrets exist in Arizona? Mark Kelly wasn’t VP for a reason everyone knows
His best buddy was not leading a double life that he didn’t know about, the only people being tricked are the idiots that support him. It’s time to release the Gallego files!
he’s his best friend but knows nothing about him? yeah ok
Amazing how they turned on him. Too bad they didn’t do this to Grijalva when it came out he was being accused of the same things and nothing was done or said
The lesson here is “get it on video”. That’s the difference, Swalwell is on video with a hooker and some buddy