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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Owen Scott

Kash Patel invites Eric Swalwell to speak to FBI over sexual assault claims as Polymarket launches odds on his arrest

FBI Director Kash Patel has invited outgoing Congressman Eric Swalwell to speak to the bureau about the slew of sexual assault allegations that have been leveled against the California Democrat. ​

Meanwhile, Polymarket, a cryptocurrency-based prediction market, has begun allowing users to bet on the likelihood that Swalwell will be arrested by the end of May.

Patel extended the invitation just hours after Swalwell announced he would resign from the House of Representatives.

​“@EricSwalwell has maintained that none of the allegations against him are true, and now that he’s resigned, we would welcome him to sit down with the FBI and share any information he has,” he wrote on X.

“We also encourage and welcome any person with relevant information to any of these matters to speak with us. Door is open to all,”​ Patel added.

Swalwell had been a front-runner to become the Democratic nominee for California governor, but dropped out of the race on Sunday. His campaign collapsed after The San Francisco Chronicle published claims from a former aide, who alleged that Swalwell had sexually assaulted her twice. ​

Shortly after, CNN reported that three other women had made separate allegations of sexual abuse. ​

Another woman, named Lonna Drewes, has since accused Swalwell of drugging and raping her.

Swalwell has vehemently denied all of the allegations, writing on X that he was “deeply sorry to my family, staff and constituents for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past.”

​“I will fight the serious, false allegation made against me,” his statement continued. “However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make.”

Polymarket launched a market on April 14, allowing users to place bets on whether Swalwell would be arrested by May 31. When the market went live, those chances stood at 46 percent.

As of April 15, they have plunged to just 14 percent. ​

FBI Director Kash Patel said that the ‘door is open’ to anyone with more information about the case (AP)

Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego, a close friend of Swalwell, told reporters on Tuesday that the representative “betrayed” his trust.

“Eric Swalwell lied to all of us - lied to the most powerful people in this country - and they trusted him,” he said. ​

“I fell for it,” Gallego added, before going on to claim that Swalwell “became very good at being a predator.”​

Noting that he had previously heard that Swalwell was “flirty” and that the pair “socialized,” Gallego said that he never saw his former friend engage in “predatory behavior.”​

The senator, who chaired Swalwell’s 2020 presidential campaign, said that he was “sorry that we didn’t listen closer.”​

Gallego added that he would hand over any electronic communications that he had with Swalwell to authorities and that he would “look at the world a different way now.”

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