Democratic Party Strategist Says POLITICO Had Swalwell Story in 2019, Dropped It

Of course, everybody knew. 

But, according to Michael Trujillo, a widely quoted Democratic political strategist in California, POLITICO was preparing a story in 2019 on Eric Swalwell, but promptly dropped it when Swalwell dropped out of the Democratic presidential race. 

Yep. Exactly the sort of behavior you would expect from what Ed calls the “protection racket media,” and what I call the Pravda Media. 

One note on the Swalwell stuff – (this isn’t confirmed) but a reporter with Politico was working on verifying the rumors on Swalwell when he was running for President. (he’s no longer with the publication) Two days before he was scheduled to sit down with this reporter Swalwell…

— Michael Trujillo (@mikehtrujillo) April 16, 2026

One note on the Swalwell stuff – (this isn’t confirmed) but a reporter with Politico was working on verifying the rumors on Swalwell when he was running for President. (he’s no longer with the publication) Two days before he was scheduled to sit down with this reporter Swalwell dropped out of the race.  The energy disappeared to potentially take him out, the victims if they were even willing to go on the record never did.  He slithered back to his safe house seat. December 2025 was too early to take down Swalwell we had to wait til his paperwork was ALL IN running for governor March 2026, so the head of the snake could be chopped off and he had no safe house seat to slither back to this time.  Hate the strategy fine, but for folks unsure if this would work, we had to make sure he couldn’t get away like he did in 2020.

I had never heard of Trujillo, although, frankly, the number of political strategists’ names that just trip off the tongue of anybody outside of the machinery of politics is rather small. So small that people like James Carville, who hit his sell-by date sometime around 1990, are still going on the air. Throw in Axelrod, Roger Stone, and a few others, and you are pretty much done with the list. 

But I checked him out, and at least CNN and a few other major media outlets think he is legit, having worked on Democratic campaigns in California for years and even consulting with presidential campaigns there. He also seems to be associated with a lobbying firm that features him as a talking head and Democratic influencer of note. 

I don’t know what you are talking about – witnesses need to come forward and make the accusation so reporters and the police in this case can do their job. I am not a victim and I’m not a witness of him committing these acts, so how do I prevent him from slithering back exactly…

— Michael Trujillo (@mikehtrujillo) April 16, 2026

Trujillo seems to be one of the people who helped bring Swalwell down, and he seems proud of the strategy used. Accumulate the evidence, and drop it when convenient. The Washington Post quotes him in their story of how Swalwell fell from grace, and it appears that Trujillo got the ball rolling and then pulled back to let others do the dirty work. 

The crowded Democratic field was struggling, sparking fears that Republicans could end up as the top two candidates of the June primary — a disaster for Democrats in the deep blue state. Former congresswoman Katie Porter was criticized after videos showed her speaking sharply to a staffer and a reporter, and billionaire Tom Steyer had struggled to line up institutional support.

“A lot of these power brokers don’t trust Porter or Steyer,” said Michael Trujillo, a Democratic strategist who created a super PAC for another gubernatorial candidate, Antonio Villaraigosa, a former mayor of Los Angeles. “Eric Swalwell became their vehicle.”

But behind the scenes, Swalwell’s team was working to tamp down allegations that threatened his campaign. Shortly after he joined the race, his team sent a cease-and-desist letter to Trujillo, who had accused Swalwell on social media of sexually harassing staffers and warned politicians not to endorse him.

Trujillo deleted the post. But Cheyenne Hunt and another Democratic influencer, Arielle Fodor, who goes by “Mrs. Frazzled,” began hearing from women who said they had had negative experiences with Swalwell around the same time that his momentum in the race was increasing.

So, obviously, everybody knew many years ago, and kept the powder dry to use it when necessary. It would have been dropped in 2019 if Swalwell hadn’t dropped out, and it seems POLITICO had the goods and was ready to pull the trigger. 

Assuming Trujillo is to be believed. It certainly has the ring of truth. But don’t expect POLITICO or the reporter to acknowledge it. 

Democrats and media REALLY want you to know that they knew the entire time that Eric Swalwell was a deviant sex pest and didn’t say a damn word about it pic.twitter.com/OsSU3UV0cY

— Dylan Housman (@Dylan_Housman) April 12, 2026

Lots of reporters have already admitted they knew all about the rumors, although I have heard nobody admit to knowing about the potential rape of which Swalwell is accused. 

Swalwell accuser: “He raped me. And he choked me. And while he was choking me, I lost consciousness and I thought I died. I did not consent to any sexual activity.” pic.twitter.com/FwuyTMXqaT

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) April 14, 2026

Most reporters who knew provided bizarre excuses for why it was not their job to expose this self-righteous abuser, but I really would love to hear why a news outlet decided to kill a story in the works on Swalwell’s abusive behavior once he dropped out of the presidential race. 

You can’t say “It wasn’t my beat” when you were already working on the story. 

Of course, we all know why. It didn’t help the Democrats at the time. Now, it did. 

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