Crisis manager Molly McPherson breaks down Eric Swalwell's failed gubernatorial campaign after sexual assault accusations. She points out the contradictions in his apology: he denied the allegations while admitting "mistakes in judgment," and his lawyer-crafted language like "non-consensual sexual acts" tried to shift blame to accusers. The arrogant tone of his video statement made things worse, not better.
So we all found out on Sunday that Congressman Eric Swalwell suspended his campaign to be the governor of California. There are many swirling accusations of sexual assault from a number of women. I'm Molly McPherson, a crisis manager. I want to share with you how you can spot the type of spin and BS that suspended, ultimately suspended his campaign, not to be a crisis manager, but to spot this BS in your life. So here's our first sign, and this was a huge huge red flag within the same statement where he denied all of the accusations made by staffers, young staffers. He called the allegations, quote, flat false, end quote, yet apologized to his wife for mistakes he made. That's a contradiction, and that's the contradiction that cost him his campaign. So the main allegation— a former staffer told the San Francisco Chronicle that she had sexual contact with him while she worked with him. Power imbalance. On two more occasions when she was too intoxicated. Those incidences happened in 2019, 2024. Swalwell was hoping that the time lapse would work in his fa— it gives him more of a buffer because memory, intoxication, but more women. CNN put their stories out, kissing, touching, inappropriate behavior. All the things that tell you, that tell women that he is not a trustworthy guy. In any type of relationship that matters, trust is paramount. In comes the fixer. A lawyer is helping draft that statement. We're all smart enough to start punching holes right through it. Of course, denies all allegations. The lawyer says, "Wallwell never engaged in quote, non-consensual sexual acts, end quote." and never had sexual relations with that staffer. Very specific language. Non-consensual. That is Swalwell, via his lawyer, Fixer, pointing the finger back at the victim, saying not only is she wrong, but her allegations are false. The term sexual relations, not to be too graphic here, leaves room for an everything but situation. Think of that power imbalance. Married. That's very careful philandering and very careful lawyering. Then comes the video statement. Video statements. Now is not the day. But why would someone like Swalwell want to do that? Arrogance. Ego. The allegations were completely false. Never happened. An absolute claim of denial. Nothing to apologize for. In the same statement, he says, I do not suggest to you in any way that I'm perfect or that I'm a saint. I have certainly made mistakes in judgment in my past. A CYA move. He's just covering himself with the public, but more specifically with his wife. So on the one side, he's telling voters and the press and everyone else, oh, nothing happened here. But on the other side, oh yeah, I made a few mistakes. What you're denying and the mistake is what you're denying. Oh, the arrogance. Now he's relegated down to X and he writes yesterday he was deeply sorry for the mistakes in judgment I've made in the past. But that he will, quote, "Fight the serious false allegations that have been made, but that's my fight, not a campaign's." So he separates, again, false allegations from mistakes in judgment. So here's your crisis comms takeaway for life, more important. If someone is denying something and then admitting to something in the same statement, that gap reveals the problem. Reveals the lack of trust. And in the case of Swalwell, it revealed why he needed to suspend his campaign.
