Rosie O’Donnell has addressed previously supporting politician Eric Swalwell before his sexual misconduct scandal came to light.
“You can’t help but feel all of the chaos of the country when you’re there, like, you can’t help but feel it,” O’Donnell, 64, said in a recent TikTok video about her recent trip across the pond from Ireland to visit family. “Can we talk for a little bit about Eric Swalwell? I know that guy.”
O’Donnell further revealed that she had previously spoken with Swalwall, 45, “on the phone a couple times” and likely donated money to his campaign.
“[I] talked about him in some public appearances years ago about how I believed in him and his cute little family,” the actress recalled. “[I spoke about him] standing up to all those people when he berates them for their moral-less behavior, and then all this comes out.”
News broke earlier in April that multiple women, including one of Swalwell’s former staffers, accused the disgraced congressman of sexual misconduct and harassment. He vehemently denied the accusations.
“These allegations are false and come on the eve of an election against the frontrunner for governor,” Swalwell said in a statement. “For nearly 20 years, I have served the public — as a prosecutor and a congressman and have always protected women.”
Eric Swalwell. Matei Horvath/Getty Images for California Environmental Voters
He continued, “I do not suggest to you in any way that I am perfect or that I’m a saint. I have certainly made mistakes in judgment in my past. Those mistakes are between me and my wife. And to her, I apologize deeply for putting her in this position.”
Swalwall has been married to Brittany Watts, with whom he shares three children, since 2016. While Watts has not publicly addressed the scandal, Swalwall has since resigned from his position in the U.S. Congress and suspended his campaign for California governor.
As for O’Donnell, she found the scandal to be “heartbreaking.”
“I wrote him a little message, and I said, ‘Bill Clinton broke my heart and now you did too,’” she said. “The conclusion I’ve come to: ‘Men suck.’ The way that they are physiologically they can’t, sort of, control their sexual urges. This is what I find.”
Swalwall, who has not publicly responded to O’Donnell’s message, has vowed to fight the accusations.
“We are confident that the truth will prevail,” his attorney Sara Azari said in an April statement, denying the allegations. “We will pursue every available legal remedy against those responsible for orchestrating these reprehensible campaign of lies.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
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