Cheyenne Hunt; Eric Swalwell
Credit: Cheyenne Hunt/Instagram; ETIENNE LAURENT / AFP via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
An influencer who helped spread the word about alleged sexual misconduct involving Eric Swalwell told CBS News she’s received messages from more than 30 women with similar stories
Allegations she’s fielded range from inappropriate messages to terrifying accounts of drugging and rape, she claimed
Swalwell previously denied the series of what he called “serious, false allegations” against him, but suspended his campaign for governor of California and submitted his official resignation from Congress
The influencer who helped spread the word about sexual misconduct allegations against now-former Congressman Eric Swalwell says she’s heard from more than 30 women who claim to have similar stories involving the Democratic lawmaker.
Cheyenne Hunt posts political content on her Instagram and TikTok pages, and has over 200,000 followers on each platform. She didn’t hesitate when her friend Annika Albrecht reached out and asked her to help share the story of her accusations against Swalwell, 45.
“Eleven days is how long it took from when I reached out to [Hunt] to make the video to when the dam broke and all the articles were published,” Albrecht told CBS News during a joint interview with Hunt and another Swalwell accuser, Ally Sammarco.
In the days since, the floodgates have opened.
Immediately, Hunt said, she was “slammed” with messages from other alleged victims of Swalwell. Some had similar stories to Albrecht and Sammarco.
Former Calif. Rep. Eric Swalwell, who resigned from Congress amid sex abuse allegations on April 14
Credit: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty
Sammarco, who first came forward with her allegations to CNN, said she met Swalwell while working an entry-level position on a campaign for former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. She reached out to him on Twitter and he responded quickly, with offers to help further her career in politics. Their chats progressed to text messaging and then, at Swalwell’s request, to Snapchat, which Sammarco said she found odd for a married father in his 40s.
“He was sending me photos of his face….he was drinking in a lot of them,” she claimed. “He would ask me if I was drinking too or tell me I should have a drink with him.”
One night, Sammarco alleged, he sent her a photo of his penis. “I was shocked,” she said. “He thought he was untouchable. He acted with total impunity. He never thought that the consequences of his actions would follow him.”
Albrecht’s story is similar, though her CBS interview on Tuesday, April 14, was the first time she went public as an alleged victim. She said she met the congressman on a class trip in college and he created a group chat with all of the students so they could continue chatting about politics after the trip was over. Albrecht was the only woman in the group — and the only one Swalwell immediately added on Snapchat, she said.
Like Sammarco, Albrecht said she valued the political connection until Swalwell’s messages allegedly turned from professional to flirty to “sexually inappropriate.” One night, she said he invited her to meet him at a hotel.
Albrecht said it was “very clear what the connotation was.” She didn’t respond.
“I keep thinking about how lucky I am that didn’t go to that hotel,” Albrecht said. That’s because, after teaming up with Hunt to publicize their allegations, the women heard stories from others about Swalwell allegedly taking it further than just messaging.
Hunt said one of the women who messaged her accused the congressman of a “full-on assault. That was when I realized this was a lot bigger than any of us knew,” and was a “different level of severity.”
In a press conference on Tuesday after CBS News’ interview aired, a woman named Lonna Drewes came forward and tearfully accused Swalwell of spiking her drink at a hotel in 2018 before taking her up to his room.
“He raped me, and he choked me. And while he was choking me, I lost consciousness, and I thought I died,” she claimed.
Albrecht, Sammarco and Hunt didn’t identify Drewes by name, but suggested they’d heard similar accusations.
“It was terrifying to get on the phone with those women and hear their stories about how they were drinking with him and suddenly woke up in bed next to him with no recollection of how they got there,” Albrecht said.
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Though new stories are emerging in the midst of a heated primary race for California governor, in which Swalwell was viewed as the Democratic frontrunner before being urged to drop out, the women insisted they weren’t politically motivated to come forward with their accusations — or coached by a Swalwell rival, as some have alleged.
“We didn’t know each other before. I didn’t know any of the other women,” Sammarco said. “I knew nothing about them. We got connected through this process, and I’m so glad we did.”
Their only goal, they said, is protecting the women that could have been future victims.
“I think we just prevented another 30 to 40 years, potentially, of him harming people if he were to stay in Congress,” Sammarco said. “As governor, he would have had even more power and more authority. And he would have felt vindicated too, you know, that he could run for higher office.”
Albrecht agreed, saying, “For me, justice won’t be until he can’t ever harm a woman ever again, and he has faced the consequences for the women that he has harmed.”
“This fight is not over. We’re just getting started,” Hunt added. “It’s clear that there needs to be another reckoning.”
On Sunday, April 12, Swalwell suspended his campaign for governor of California after receiving his first accusations of sexual assault, including from a former staffer. In his announcement on X, he denied any wrongdoing, vowing to “fight” the “false allegations” against him.
“To my family, staff, friends, and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past,” he wrote. “I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s.”
Then, on Tuesday, he officially resigned from Congress, effective immediately. For Sammarco, the concession was bittersweet.
“He was pushed into a corner, essentially, because they were planning to expel him…so I think he did that to save face a little,” she said. “But I also felt very vindicated that he realized it was over for him.”
A spokesperson for Swalwell didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for comment.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
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