In short
The episode is an “Here and Now” update focused on why reports/rumors about former Rep. Eric Swalwell went unreported publicly, and what changed once specific allegations surfaced. It also briefly covers U.S. actions in the Middle East (more troops, naval blockade of Iranian ports, ceasefire expiring April 22) and spring allergy science.
Guests
Jackie Speier (former Democratic California congresswoman; co-created the Me Too Congress Act; says Congress’s culture discourages speaking up and calls for stronger protections and faster accountability). Melanie Mason (Politico California bureau chief; wrote about a “whisper network” of women warning others).
Key claims
rumors circulated privately for years; women allegedly feared retaliation/ostracism; press and lawmakers couldn’t act without actionable allegations.
Notable examples
Lana Drews alleges Swalwell drugged her drink and raped her in 2018; Ali Samarco says he invited her to Washington, texted her about “tension,” and later sent genital photos; influencers Arielle Fodor (“Mrs. Frazzled”) and Cheyenne Hunt helped collect and route stories to reporters.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOEric Swalwell's Accusations and Investigation
0:58 to 2:06
An overview of the sexual assault allegations against Eric Swalwell.
“Today on the show, we get an update on the Middle East as the Pentagon sends more troops to the region and the U.S.”
Congressional Culture and Rumors
2:06 to 2:45
Discussion on the culture in Congress regarding misconduct rumors.
“Melanie Mason has written about a whisper network that led to Swalwell's fall from grace over the past week.”
Reforming Congressional Conduct
2:45 to 4:09
Former Congresswoman Jackie Speier discusses needed reforms in Congress.
“The problem in Congress is that we see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil.”
The Challenges of Reporting Misconduct
4:09 to 6:06
Exploration of why victims hesitate to come forward about misconduct.
“So the question becomes, what more do they need in terms of protection?”
Whisper Networks and Women's Stories
6:06 to 8:07
Melanie Mason discusses the whisper network surrounding Eric Swalwell.
“And we have not done enough to make these women feel secure.”
Influencers and the Shift in Narrative
8:07 to 13:07
The role of social media influencers in bringing attention to Swalwell's behavior.
“How widespread was this sort of whisper network that you're talking about?”
U.S. Military Movements and Strategies in the Middle East
14:32 to 19:21
Get insights into the U.S. military's strategy and presence in the Middle East.
“troops are heading to the Middle East, according to officials.”
Understanding Seasonal Allergies: Causes and Management
20:28 to 25:56
Learn about the impact of climate change on allergy seasons and how to manage symptoms.
“It's almost a cruel joke that a season can bring so much floral joy and nasal nightmares.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Melanie Mason:This message comes from Working Forests Initiative. In American Working Forests, their professionals are committed to planting more trees than they harvest. Learn more at WorkingForestsInitiative.com.
0:14Jackie Speier:WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:21Melanie Mason:When I arrived at his hotel room, I was already incapacitated and I couldn't move my arms or my body.
0:34Jackie Speier:More women accuse former Congressman Eric Swalwell of sexual assault.
0:48Jackie Speier:It's Wednesday, April 15th, and this is Here and Now Anytime from NPR and WB War Boston. I'm Shiko Themuri. Today on the show, we get an update on the Middle East as the Pentagon sends more troops to the region and the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports continues in an attempt to force an end to the war. And no, you're not crazy. seasonal allergies are coming for us much earlier and staying much longer. We'll have tips on how to survive this spring. But first, former Congressman and California gubernatorial candidate Eric Swalwell is now under criminal investigation in New York and California, now that another woman has come forward with sexual assault accusations against him.
1:34Jackie Speier:Lana Drews claimed Swalwell raped her in 2018 after he drugged her drink.
1:39Melanie Mason:We were supposed to go to a political event, and he said he needed to get paperwork from his hotel room.
1:49Melanie Mason:When I arrived at his hotel room, I was already incapacitated, and I couldn't move my arms or my body.
2:02Jackie Speier:Swalwell denies the accusations of sexual misconduct and assault. But rumors about Swalwell's behavior with young women had been reportedly swirling privately for years on Capitol Hill. Melanie Mason has written about a whisper network that led to Swalwell's fall from grace over the past week. She's the California bureau chief for Politico. We'll hear from her in a bit. But first, Peter O'Dowd gets perspective from former Democratic California Congresswoman Jackie Speier.
2:29Melanie Mason:You served with Eric Swalwell in the House for a decade. You're both from California. did you ever at any time have any inkling that something was amiss? You know, there are always rumors that swirl around certain members in Congress. And I certainly heard these rumors about Eric Swalwell, but they were rumors. The problem in Congress is that we see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil. And it creates this toxic environment where members, soon after they get there, feel that they are above the law, so to speak, that they are untouchables. And we keep seeing this conduct go on over and over again.
3:16Melanie Mason:Now, in 2018, with Congressman Bradley Byrne, a conservative from Alabama, and I joined forces and created the Me Too Congress Act. Before then, the law was tipped in favor of the member, the perpetrator. You had no counsel. You were subject to mandatory mediation, non-disclosure agreements. And if there was a settlement, the taxpayers picked up the tab. So that was jaw-dropping to us, and we changed all those rules so that the victim was actually— It may have been a big change, but it didn't—I mean, in this case, it clearly didn't do enough. I mean, would you agree with that? Yeah, even though a victim was now represented by counsel, that they didn't have to go through any of that process, and that if there was a settlement, the member had to pick up the tab, they, for some reason, have been unwilling to come forward.
4:09Melanie Mason:So the question becomes, what more do they need in terms of protection? And I think one of the things that Congress should consider is whether or not members are told when they get there, if you have an affair with someone in your office, you will be subject to expulsion. That's the kind of threat that will have some effect, I believe. Should the Ethics Committee be required to make public any accusation against a sitting member of Congress? Well, you make they eventually come to a conclusion. And once they come to a conclusion, that is made public. But, you know, truly, that process takes forever.
4:51Melanie Mason:And again, it's set up not to hold people accountable. And that's what needs to happen. What you were saying about Congressman Swalwell and the rumors that were swirling around Washington, D.C., It reminds me of what Senator Ruben Gallego said yesterday. Here he is. And by the way, Gallego considered himself at one point a close friend and was the 2020 presidential campaign manager for Eric Swalwell. Look, we all heard rumors in Washington, D.C. about Eric Swalwell for many years. And my family, again, was with him all the time, with his wife, with his kids. And we saw a different side of Eric that I never saw.
5:35Melanie Mason:I know it's complicated, but people will be listening to this and they will hear what you've said. Like we heard the rumors and they won't be satisfied with the answer of, well, I didn't say anything. Why don't people say anything when they hear this? You can't say anything if you don't have any evidence. That's why I think we have to go another step. If members think that they are going to lose their job in Congress, if they have a sexual relationship with someone on their staff, they're not going to do that. They'll move that person out of their office into another office or find some way to separate themselves from that.
6:15Melanie Mason:It's just so reprehensible. And we have not done enough to make these women feel secure. So I hope that my colleagues will do what they should do, which is talk to each of these victims, find out why they were unwilling to come forward. I'm sure we're going to hear they were fearful of retaliation or they were fearful that they would be ostracized. And, you know, they were young women who had careers in their future. I mean, we actually covered interns for the first time in the 2018 legislation. Before then, they weren't even covered. Jackie Speier is a former congresswoman from California. Thank you very much for your time.
6:53Melanie Mason:Nice to speak with you. Good to talk to you. All right. Let's bring in Melanie Mason, California Bureau Chief for Politico. She's written about this whisper network that helped lead to Swalwell's fall from grace over the past week. Melanie, welcome. And why don't you start with what Congresswoman Spear said there? I think you might have some insights into why these women never came forward.
7:14Jackie Speier:Yes, thanks for having me. I mean, I think it's so interesting to hear from the former Congresswoman that, yes, there were these rumors. But I think that the gap between, you know, rumors and then actually acting on these disclosures is if these women felt comfortable coming forward with what they had experienced. And I think that the reason that this persisted as long as it did is because in a very sort of closed environment like Capitol Hill, there's just still tremendous consequence for talking about this stuff. And so I think that that is why you would have, you know, kind of a whisper network of women that would, you know, warn people, don't give him your phone number or try not to be alone with him.
7:49Jackie Speier:But until you had sort of specific allegations, then I think it's very hard for either members of the press or members of Congress to act upon it because, you know, we also want to be fair to the accused, right? You know, you can't just act on rumor, but it feels like it's making the environment feel that people feel comfortable enough to speak about what has happened that would elevate this from a whisper network to sort of actionable intelligence.
8:15Melanie Mason:How much did people know? How widespread was this sort of whisper network that you're talking about?
8:23Jackie Speier:I think it's difficult to quantify. I will say, I mean, out here from our California vantage point, I would say that every so often I would hear maybe, you know, he sent an inappropriate text message to a friend of mine or something like that. I think universally what I've been hearing from people, you know, either in Washington, D.C. or here in California is the seriousness of the allegations when there's talk about sexual assault. I don't think that that was part of the conversation that was going on. And in fact, you know, some of these influencers who are collecting the stories of these women said that every woman who had experienced some of these more serious allegations thought that they were the only one.
8:59Jackie Speier:But I think that another kind of key point to this is that whereas this may have been some of the sort of less serious but more gossipy or still kind of concerning things about, you know, inappropriate messages, things like that, were circulating around Washington, D.C. He was such a creature of Washington that he was virtually really unknown to the political establishment here in California. So when he ran for governor in California, it's a different set of political operators. It's a different set of endorsers, of donors. There wasn't a ton of intelligence, I think, basically that crossed the Rockies.
9:31Melanie Mason:Eric Swalwell, he was a rising star in Democratic politics. I mean he was known for taking on President Trump head on in the impeachment effort. is there a reckoning taking place right now not only in california but but maybe across the party
9:49Jackie Speier:i think that that it's it's interesting because yes in some ways i do think when we're hearing from members of congress um that there has to be more action being done the fact that you had two members of congress resign in one day you also had tony gonzalez the republican resign i mean that is pretty extraordinary and so i don't think that we can dismiss this this uh kind of moment but i also think that, you know, having a lot of experience reporting around these stories back in 2017 and 2018, when there was the first kind of wave of Me Too stories, one of the things that I took away from that is that, you know, institutions have a very hard time reforming themselves.
10:22Jackie Speier:And I think that when you do see some progress, like when I was in Sacramento and saw the state legislature putting some new rules in guardrails, I think that there was a certain point where there was the appetite sort of waned. And so I think that it does seem like there's a very intense conversation going on at this moment and perhaps there will be sort of specific change that comes out of it. But I think that the durability of these types of reckonings can be very difficult because, you know, there's a lot of other things going on in the world and these types of internal conversations, internal reckonings are very difficult for people to do.
10:54Melanie Mason:One of Swellwell's accusers is Ali Samarco and she told CNN's Pamela Brown that Swellwell responded to her social media post praising him and then invited her to meet him and his staff in Washington. Let's listen. I went to the Capitol and I didn't meet anybody but him. We went into his office and he closed the door and it was just the two of us. We talked for 20 minutes. And then after that, I left and he sent me a text message saying, could you feel the tension in the room between us? And then she goes on to say that the former congressman eventually texted her pictures of his genitals. Now, this woman's story, it went public because of a group of women who started hearing and collecting stories about Swalwell's behavior.
11:37Melanie Mason:And you wrote about them. This was really interesting. Tell me about these women, these influencers that you've written about and what kind of impact they had.
11:45Jackie Speier:I think that that's the most sort of 2026 element to what otherwise is kind of a tale as old as time story. Watching these online social media creators kind of create the drumbeat and call attention to this. And so there was, this all kind of started with this one woman, Arielle Fodor, who was, she's known online as Mrs. Frazzled. She has quite a large following. She's sort of an education influencer. She talks about politics. She's a Democrat. And she was on a Zoom call with Eric Swawa when he launched his campaign with other creators. She posted something complimentary about him. And what she heard back were people saying, you know, don't trust this guy or be careful with this guy.
12:23Jackie Speier:And that sort of set her on this quest where she started asking people that she knew that work in democratic politics, started hearing that these stories were out there. And I think she really took it upon herself. And then there was another influencer, Cheyenne Hunt, who did the same thing to kind of allow themselves to be a clearinghouse for these women to feel comfortable to come forward and share their stories. Kind of an intermediary between, you know, the women themselves and then the traditional news outlets who did the type of reporting that we see in these circumstances, right? The vetting, the looking for corroboration.
12:52Jackie Speier:You know, these Influencers weren't being reporters, but they were being sort of a conveyor belt to connect these women to reporters.
13:00Melanie Mason:Melanie Mason at Politico, thank you.
13:07Jackie Speier:Coming up next, we'll assess where we are in the war with Iran as more U.S. troops head to the Middle East. Stay with us.
13:19Jackie Speier:Hey, it's Ben Brock Johnson from WBUR Podcasts.
13:22Melanie Mason:As a dad, I will say that climate change feels overwhelming. But my kids, they meet every challenge with so much imagination.
13:31Jackie Speier:That's why we made The Midnight Rebellion, a podcast for our whole family where we can put our heads together. Because every choice we make can help save the planet. Find and listen to The Midnight Rebellion in your podcast feed right now.
13:48Melanie Mason:This message comes from LinkedIn, who knows an empty seat can cost small businesses more than just space. That's why LinkedIn Hiring Pro makes it easy to fill that seat with the right candidate, streamlining everything from posting jobs to shortlisting talent. Nearly 60 % of businesses find someone to interview in the first week. Hire right the first time. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash NPR. Terms and conditions apply. This message comes from Working Forests Initiative. In American working forests, their professionals are committed to planting more trees than they harvest.
14:26Melanie Mason:Learn more at WorkingForestsInitiative.com.
14:30Jackie Speier:Thousands more U.S. troops are heading to the Middle East, according to officials. The ceasefire is set to expire April 22nd, and the Trump administration wants to dial up pressure on Tehran. On Monday, the U.S. began a naval blockade of Iranian ports to try to get Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to ship traffic. And Iran has responded with threats to block all imports and exports from the Persian Gulf, Oman, and the Red Sea. Dan Lamothe covers the U.S. military and the Pentagon for The Washington Post, and he joined Deb Becker with the latest.
15:04Melanie Mason:So tell us more about the number and kinds of U.S. forces that the Pentagon is sending to the Middle East.
15:13Jackie Speier:Sure. I think most importantly, we will have a third aircraft carrier group, which includes both the carrier but also a number of destroyers traveling with it. Even at the height of operations in the last month or so, there was only two. So they're actually moving to a spot where they haven't been in some years with three carriers in the Middle East. In addition to that, you've got a Marine Corps unit that's also moving in, which would give them the ability to notionally do more boardings. And if the Trump administration decides to go there, actually put Marines on the ground.
15:48Melanie Mason:So right now, their primary objective is to do boarding, boarding vessels. Is that what they'll be doing?
Read the full transcript
15:57Jackie Speier:It's at least an option. We didn't see any boardings in the first day of the blockade yesterday. But typically, that is a way that a blockade is enforced, is you would actually put either Navy SEALs or Marines or potentially even a Coast Guard boarding team on these vessels. You can do that with the permission of the other captain, or you can do it by force if you decide it's necessary.
16:21Melanie Mason:What kind of pressure do you think the U.S. blockade will put on Iran, especially if it continues for a bit?
16:29Jackie Speier:Yeah, I spoke to a number of both current and former senior Pentagon officials in the last couple of days. They all see this as a reasonable measure, kind of given the limited options that the administration has at this point. and certainly a less risky option than actually putting, for the sake of argument, against soldiers, Marines, whoever in the islands in the Persian Gulf or on the coastal areas, which has also been discussed in the last month or so.
16:59Melanie Mason:Would you describe what we're seeing right now as an escalation? How would you categorize it?
17:06Jackie Speier:I think a blockade is certainly an escalation. It is considered an act of war. So this is still an active, hostile situation despite the ceasefire. But I think there is still plenty more room for escalation to go. And really the question becomes, what kind of deal can the administration get? What kind of deal can the administration get that they consider good enough? And is that good enough to avoid further escalation yet?
17:34Melanie Mason:You mentioned the Marines. How likely do you think it is that U.S. ground troops could become involved here?
17:40Jackie Speier:I have a hard time getting a read on whether it's something that they really want to do. There is an awful lot of reasons not to do it. You know, we would be looking at potentially more U.S. fatalities than we've seen potentially in the entire conflict so far. But I think they want to keep the option there. I think they want to make it clear that this is a cudgel that they can move to next, should they not be happy with what they see in the coming days.
18:05Melanie Mason:On Fox Business this morning, President Trump was speaking with Maria Bartiromo. And here he is talking about the latest lower oil prices in the war. Let's listen.
18:15Jackie Speier:I'm very happy. And it's going to come dropping down very big as soon as it's over. And I think it can be over very soon. So if they're smart, it will end soon.
18:24Melanie Mason:Now, President Trump has sent mixed messages about this war ever since it started. He also said there's a possibility for talks to resume this week. talks held last weekend failed to reach an agreement. So I'm wondering, Dan, is there any indication that this is going to end soon?
18:41Jackie Speier:I think could is probably a good way to put it. I think they seemed very far apart in negotiations leaving the negotiating table last weekend. And I think in particular, whether or not the president is willing to, for the sake of argument, accept 10 years or 20 years as opposed to forever, in terms of what an Iranian nuclear program pause would look like. If he's willing to accept something less than the ultimate position he has expressed so far, perhaps there's some sort of negotiation space that can yield some fruit.
19:14Melanie Mason:Dan Lamothe covers the U.S. military and the Pentagon for The Washington Post. Dan, thanks so much for being with us.
19:21Jackie Speier:Thank you.
19:30Jackie Speier:Coming up, spring bears fresh flowers and fresh hell for people with seasonal allergies. We've got tips to help you get through it after the break.
19:46Melanie Mason:This message comes from LinkedIn, who knows an empty seat can cost small businesses more than just space. That's why LinkedIn Hiring Pro makes it easy to fill that seat with the right candidate, streamlining everything from posting jobs to shortlisting talent. Nearly 60 % of businesses find someone to interview in the first week. Hire right the first time. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash NPR. Terms and conditions apply. This message comes from Working Forests Initiative. In American working forests, their professionals are committed to planting more trees than they harvest.
20:23Melanie Mason:Learn more at workingforestsinitiative.com.
20:28Jackie Speier:Spring is here, and so are your seasonal allergies. It's almost a cruel joke that a season can bring so much floral joy and nasal nightmares. And the worst part is that the season is getting longer and longer. Here with some advice on how to ease some of your symptoms is Kathleen May. She's the Allergy, Immunology, and Pediatric Rheumatology Division Chief at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. Here's her conversation with Deb.
20:56Melanie Mason:So is it just me, or is allergy season starting earlier and lasting longer? it's certainly not just you we know that climate change is definitely having an impact on our pollen season and in the eastern u.s especially the northeast compared with 30 years ago the increasing temperatures we're seeing are moving the tree pollen season earlier and with higher peak pollen levels on average this is starting about three weeks earlier we also know that with increased exposure to carbon dioxide as we're seeing the plants actually increase their size and they're also increasing their pollen production per plant.
21:32Melanie Mason:So it's about three weeks longer now, allergy season. So I guess when folks think of April showers, right, they might think rain clears out pollen, right? There should be symptoms easing at that point. But I understand there's something called thunderstorm asthma. What is that? So, yes, the rain is a bit of a mixed picture. So obviously rain does wash out pollen, But what can happen, especially during an intense thunderstorm, is that the air is updrafted into the storm. So you get pollen particles, mold particles pulled up into the storm. And when then the storm hits, it actually pushes that pollen forward ahead of the storm and can create a significant allergy exposure to those who are sensitive.
22:20Melanie Mason:In addition, the rain creates fragmentation of the pollen and there are smaller pieces that you can actually inhale into your lungs. And that's what we believe is responsible for the thunderstorm asthma. And is it dangerous? It is. There have been evidence of kind of outbreaks of this periodically, both in the United States and in Australia. Fortunately, widespread outbreaks are rare. But, you know, for someone who's sensitive to tree pollen or grass pollen, as we're seeing this spring, it would be best for those people to stay indoors right at the start of a storm or to try not to do things right before the storm because that initial push is going to increase their exposure.
23:04Melanie Mason:Another thing that I've heard about regarding warmer weather, it might trigger what are called pollen bombs. Can you explain? Uh, yes. So we have not had, we're in a little bit of a drought in parts of the eastern and southeastern U.S. And so what happens is the pollen has not been washed out of the air. So we know that pollen travels for hundreds of miles and this pollen sort of stays up in the atmosphere. So those pollen exposures are enormous and they're not being cleared out by rain if we have a drought. Mm-hmm. And you just mentioned the drought. I wonder, how do dry conditions affect allergy symptoms?
23:46Melanie Mason:Well, you would think that dry conditions would not promote plant growth, right? So the concern is, though, that those trees that are, for example, tree pollen, those trees have been being watered all winter and there's been snow. And so those trees are ready to release pollen. So even though there's current dry conditions, you're really seeing the tree growth and the pollen from the conditions that were present over the fall to winter months. So it really isn't reducing that. It may reduce the grass pollen some, but I think that's a temporary finding. What do you recommend that folks do to ease symptoms, especially symptoms that might be exacerbated by some of these things?
24:28Melanie Mason:Well, if you are aware that you're sensitive to these things, the best course of action is to actually start taking regular medications, nasal corticosteroid sprays, antihistamines, at least a couple weeks before the start of the season. We know that there's something called the priming effect. And the importance of that is that a little bit of pollen at the beginning of a season triggers a lot more symptoms than it would later in the season. So we're primed at the beginning of a season to have worsening symptoms right at the start. And anything we should watch out for with over-the-counter meds?
25:05Melanie Mason:Oh, absolutely. Over-the-counter medications are a mixed picture as well. So the short-acting medications such as Benadryl, for example, do carry a fair amount of side effects. And the studies and data show that taking a Benadryl for some people may be equivalent to drinking an ounce of alcohol. And so if those folks are then going to school or driving a car or working, then that can impair your ability to perform at optimal levels. So we prefer, in the allergy community, we prefer long-acting antihistamines that are less sedating. Okay. Thanks so much, Dr. Kathleen May from Augusta University.
25:43Melanie Mason:Thanks for being with us.
25:57Jackie Speier:Here and Now Anytime comes from NPR and WBUR Boston. Today's stories were produced by Lynn Mennegan, Julia Corcoran, and Jenna Griffiths. Today's editors were Micaela Rodriguez and Michael Scotto. Technical direction from James Trout and Matt Reed. Our theme music is by Mike Moschetto, Max Liebman, and Chris Bentley. Our digital producers are Alison Hagen and Grace Griffin. And the executive producer of Here and Now is Alan Price. Thanks for listening. We'll be back tomorrow.
26:36Melanie Mason:This message comes from Working Forests Initiative. In American working forests, their professionals, from GIS analysts to biologists and even accountants, are committed to planting more trees than they harvest. They all have a role to play in planting for the future. Together, they aim to plant more than 1 billion seedlings in American working forests every year. They believe that protecting their working forests for tomorrow starts with planting more than they harvest today. Learn more at WorkingForestsInitiative.com.
From the publisher
Then, the Pentagon is sending more troops to the Middle East, and the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports continues, in an attempt to pressure Iran into making a deal to end the war. Washington Post reporter Dan Lamothe shares the latest.
And, Dr. Kathleen May explains why the allergy season may have you sneezing a bit longer this year
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