According to a report published Wednesday evening, the Eric Swalwell sex scandal cancer may be spreading in the Democratic Party — specifically, to his former self-professed “best friend,” who just so happens to be a 2028 Democratic presidential hopeful.
The Daily Mail reported that at the site of Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego’s wedding in Puerto Rico in June 2021, Swalwell’s campaign made a set of expenditures totaling over $1,500.
The move comes as Gallego, considered a 2028 dark horse, is claiming that Swalwell “lied to all of us” and that he was blindsided by the allegations, despite the fact that the two were roommates.
However, the Daily Mail’s report said that “the true intimacy of their relationship is beginning to unravel” amid the receipts — the literal ones, campaign receipts filed with the Federal Election Commission, of which Swalwell seems to have left no small number behind.
That’s a problem, especially when they involve bar tabs and accusations that the women Swalwell targeted were too inebriated to consent.
From the Daily Mail, emphasis ours:
Swalwell’s political operation made a pair of expenditures at the Hyatt Regency Grand Reserve Puerto Rico, totaling $1,522.11 on June 7th, 2021.
An Instagram post by a wedding guest, reviewed by the Daily Mail, tagged that hotel as the location of Gallego’s wedding on that same date.
The political operation of Gallego – the groom – spent $2,000 at the nearby Fairmont El San Juan that same day. Gallego, a congressman at the time, was elected to the Senate in November 2024.
Curiously, neither has ever posted photographs that include the other from the nuptials.
This is in spite of the fact that Swalwell was a confirmed guest at the wedding, according to media reports. As the Daily Mail noted, this use of funds could constitute a federal elections violation, since “campaign funds cannot be used for personal expenses” — although this is likely the least of his worries right now.
And Gallego wasn’t the only Democratic lawmaker ensnared: “California Democratic Congresswoman Linda Sanchez, also in attendance at the event per Politico, spent campaign funds at the Hyatt Regency totaling $1,809.79. On May 18th of 2021, Sanchez spent an additional $540.93 for a ‘lodging deposit’ at the hotel.”
Gallego’s X page was busy posting reporters parroting his campaign’s official response to the story — namely, that he had paid deposits for a September retreat at a different Puerto Rico hotel, which doesn’t link him to Swalwell’s potentially illegal spending.
The Gallego campaign says their June 7, 2021 payment had nothing to do with his wedding in Puerto Rico (which was at the Hyatt). Instead the $2,000 payment was a scheduled deposit for a September political event held at the Fairmont. https://t.co/xudJwKzjcC pic.twitter.com/u6ocVj6oMN
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) April 16, 2026
This didn’t exactly explain the issue away, as Dave Weigel of Semafor noted: “Unanswered Qs: Why did Swalwell (who’s marooned + not talking to media) pay that hotel on June 7, 3 days after the wedding? Why did Rep. Linda Sanchez, who also didn’t explain to the Daily Mail?” Weigel wrote on X.
Unanswered Qs: Why did Swalwell (who’s marooned + not talking to media) pay that hotel on June 7, 3 days after the wedding? Why did Rep. Linda Sanchez, who also didn’t explain to the Daily Mail?
But Gallego’s campaign paid a different hotel, where it then had a donor retreat.
— David Weigel (@daveweigel) April 16, 2026
Gallego’s 2021 marriage — not his first — was already the subject of some controversy for the senator.
As the Washington Free Beacon reported on Tuesday, they had to go to court to get what that publication described as “the bizarre circumstances of his 2017 divorce” after he was elected to the Senate in 2024.
Those records were unsealed on Thursday, just one day before the Swalwell scandal broke. They included a note in the memorandum requesting a seal that his wife, now the mayor of Phoenix, had “not yet been served” with divorce papers and was “likely to give birth any day.”
The news was mostly overshadowed by Swalwell’s rape allegations dropping on Friday. Swalwell had previously described Gallego as his “best friend in the world.”
Calling the accusations “indefensible,” Gallego said “I regret having come to his defense on social media prior to knowing all the information. I am equally as shocked and upset about what has transpired. I am withdrawing my endorsement of Congressman Swalwell, effective immediately.”
I’ve read the San Francisco Chronicle’s reporting and I take it seriously.
What is described is indefensible. Women who come forward with accounts like this deserve to be heard with respect, not questioned or dismissed.
I regret having come to his defense on social media prior…
— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) April 10, 2026
By Monday evening, as it was clear that Swalwell had no future in his current seat either, Gallego urged a vote on his expulsion from the House:
I support the ethics committee’s investigation and believe Eric Swalwell is no longer fit to be a Member of Congress. He should be expelled from Congress.
I want to be clear: I had no knowledge of the allegations of assault, harassment, and predatory behavior against Eric…
— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) April 13, 2026
However, he continued to be haunted by the close association with Swalwell, with many posting an infamous image of the two shirtless on camels during a junket to Qatar.
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) April 13, 2026
In addition, many claimed Gallego resembled the third person on a bed in a short video clip featuring Swalwell and a sex worker making the rounds on social media; Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida told Fox News she had heard allegations the individual who filmed that clip, a female, may have been underage.
During an emotional impromptu media briefing Tuesday, Gallego said he had heard allegations that Swalwell could be “flirty” but that he didn’t notice anything seriously untoward, despite the fact that Swalwell was married and, prior to that, had an apparent fling with a Chinese spy.
“Eric Swalwell lied to all of us — lied to the most powerful people in this country — and they trusted him,” Gallego said, according to the Washington Free Beacon. “I let this man into my family … it hurts me that this man hurt a lot of people.”
“Look, we socialized. We went out. But I never saw him engage in any of the predatory behavior, harassment, sexual assault or even like anything that,” he added. “I’m sorry that we didn’t listen closer.”
However, the presser ended on a bit of a gaffe, given the seriousness of the allegations and the involvement of alcohol.
“Anyone else? Last call,” a Gallego aide asked reporters.
Gallego quickly waived him off. “Let’s not use ‘last call,’” he said, visibly annoyed.
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