<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"I was pushing him off me, saying no,\" the woman told CNN of the incident, which she claims happened in 2024 after she stopped working at Svolvell's office. \"He didn't stop.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said it was the second time Svolvel had had sexual contact with her without her consent while she was drunk. In 2019, while she was still working for him, she said she woke up naked with him in a hotel room after a night of heavy drinking. She said she has no memory of what happened, but that she physically felt that they had had sexual contact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three other women who spoke to CNN also made allegations of various forms of sexual misconduct by the Democratic congressman \u2014 including sending unsolicited explicit messages or photos of their naked bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One woman who contacted Svolvel online because of her interest in Democratic politics says she ended up very drunk in his hotel room after a date with him, with little memory of what happened. Earlier that night at a bar, he had kissed her and touched her leg without her consent, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another woman who said she received unsolicited nude photos from Svolvel was social media content creator Ali Samarco. She said she initially contacted the congressman on Twitter to discuss politics. \u201cI really never thought he would respond \u2014 I had about 1,000 followers at the time,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd he actually responded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Svolvel denied the women's allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"These allegations are false and come on the eve of an election against a leading candidate for governor,\" Svolvel said in a statement to CNN. \"I have served the public for nearly 20 years \u2014 as a prosecutor and a congressman \u2014 and I have always protected women. I will defend myself with the facts and, where necessary, take legal action. My focus in the coming days is to be with my wife and children and defend my decades of service from these lies.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Svolvel's lawyer sent warning letters to two women who spoke to CNN on Thursday, a day after CNN first contacted his campaign for comment, according to copies of the letters they provided. The letters called their allegations \"false,\" ordered them to retract their statements and warned of possible legal action if they continued to speak out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The letters also state that the women's claims were \"called into question\" by their \"voluntary and cooperative relationship with Mr. Svolvell over a number of years\" following alleged incidents, including a former co-worker seeking job references from him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His lawyer also sent a letter to CNN denying that Svolvell ever had non-consensual sexual intercourse with any woman or that he had sexual relations with members of his staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One member of Svolvel's staff said he resigned immediately after receiving detailed questions from CNN about the allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CNN has found corroboration of key elements of each of the women's statements, including a former coworker who claims she was sexually assaulted. Two family members and a friend said in interviews with<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CNN said she told them about the alleged 2024 assault in the days after, and CNN also reviewed messages she sent to two friends describing the allegations at the same time. \"I was sexually assaulted on Thursday,\" she wrote to one friend, adding: \"From Erik.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The woman also shared medical records related to testing for sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy after the alleged assault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the woman who contacted Svolvell through politics, a family member and two friends confirmed that she told them about an incident last year when she ended up drunk in his hotel room. CNN also reviewed text messages between her and Svolvell, including a photo he sent her that matched a video of him appearing in a CNN interview in her city that evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The women described a similar pattern: Svolvel, who is married with three children, took a keen interest in their lives when they were in their twenties and early careers, making them feel special. Then, they say, he would send increasingly sexual messages. Many said they reciprocated in part because of his position of power. In some cases, this escalated to unwanted physical touching or sexual assault, often coupled with heavy drinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The women asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation or consequences at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CNN reviewed dozens of messages between Svolvel and the women, many of which were flirtatious in nature. None of the messages reviewed were sexually explicit. The women said the more explicit messages were mostly sent via Snapchat, where they are automatically deleted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The allegations come as Svolvel \u2014 a San Francisco-area congressman and former presidential candidate \u2014 is making headway in the polls for the California governor's race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rumors about his behavior have been circulating on social media for the past few weeks. Most women first reached out to influencers, believing they were alone in their experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three key influencers told CNN they were not paid by or coordinated with other campaigns. \"This has always been about justice for these women and uncovering the truth,\" said Shane Hunt, a lawyer and former congressional candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CNN also spoke to other women who worked for Svolvel who said they never had inappropriate interactions with him, describing him as a supportive and caring boss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But several women who have come forward with allegations said his actions had long-term consequences, leaving them confused, upset and scared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI always felt like there would be consequences if I spoke out, because he was so powerful,\u201d the former co-worker said. \u201cI lived in fear every day.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A former aide to Congressman Eric Svolvell, the leading Democratic candidate for governor of California, claims that the congressman raped her while she was heavily intoxicated and left her bruised and bloody, a claim Svolvell strongly denies, CNN reports.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":510930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[30417,70],"naslovna":[],"class_list":["post-954973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-svijet","tag-erik-svolvel","tag-sad"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gradski.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gradski.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gradski.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gradski.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gradski.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954973"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gradski.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":954974,"href":"https:\/\/gradski.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954973\/revisions\/954974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gradski.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gradski.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gradski.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gradski.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954973"},{"taxonomy":"naslovna","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gradski.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naslovna?post=954973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}