Luna moves to oust Swalwell from House over assault allegations

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) on Saturday said she would file a motion to expel California Rep. Eric Swalwell from office, after the Democrat was hit with sexual assault allegations.

“I am filing a motion to expel Eric Swalwell from Congress,” the Republican lawmaker wrote on social platform X.

A former staffer of Swalwell accused the House member and California gubernatorial candidate of sexually assaulting her twice when she was too drunk to consent in a new report from The San Francisco Chronicle published on Friday. CNN reported three additional allegations from women that the congressman sent them inappropriate messages and nude pictures. 

Swalwell has firmly denied the sexual assault allegations amid mounting calls from Democratic leaders and others for him to end his bid for governor. The lawmaker called the sexual assault claims “flat false” in a video posted on X late Friday. 

“They are absolutely false. They did not happen,” he said. “They have never happened, and I will fight them with everything that I have. They also come on the eve of an election where I have been the frontrunner candidate for governor in California.”

Expulsion is the most serious consequence a member of Congress can face, and it requires a two-thirds majority vote in the House. Only 6 members of the House of Representatives have been expelled in U.S. history — with former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) being the most recent, after an ethics review found he misused campaign funds and falsified his background.

The Hill has reached out to Swalwell’s congressional office for comment.

Luna worked jointly with Republican and Democratic lawmakers to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and she has been a staunch advocate for victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

She has also led calls to expel another Democrat, Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.), from office. The House Ethics Committee found in March that the Florida Democrat committed dozens of ethics violations related to campaign finance activity — allegations she has denied.

“Sheila McCormick will be expelled by the end of the month if she does not resign now,” the Florida Republican wrote in a separate X post on Saturday. “The vote will be called. Resign.”

Luna also pressed for Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) to be censured and stripped of his committee assignments after text messages, said to be extracted from a staffer’s phone, appeared to show him trying to solicit sexual material from her. Gonzales has pushed back on the characterization, while acknowledging that the affair was a “mistake.”