On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Story Is,” Elias Dabaie, the attorney for California gubernatorial candidate Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), responded to people who had endorsed Swalwell pulling their support by saying that “I suspect that there are political machinations behind the scenes explaining why the Democratic Party has decided to try to consolidate the vote in order to make sure that a Democratic candidate makes it past the primary.”
Host Elex Michaelson asked, “So, there is a growing list of Swalwell’s friends and colleagues who had endorsed him for governor, but now say that they are pulling their endorsement. That includes Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who were campaign co-chairs. They now say he should drop out. Is Eric Swalwell still running for governor of California tonight?”
Dabaie answered, “As of this moment, yes, he is. He intends to continue his campaign, yes, very much so. The notion that all of these people pulled their support, I suspect that there are political machinations behind the scenes explaining why the Democratic Party has decided to try to consolidate the vote in order to make sure that a Democratic candidate makes it past the primary. So, I’m not surprised to see that –.”
Michaelson then cut in to ask, “That doesn’t make any sense. It’s one thing if we’re talking about the candidates that are running against him. These are people who endorsed him. These are some of his best friends in Congress. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), one of his closest friends, Jimmy Gomez, who he asked to chair the campaign, people who have made commercials for him, saying, go out and vote for him, they are now saying, on the record, that he should drop out, many of them saying they believe the women, not him. Why are they — are they all lying? What is their motivation in this? And why is he not listening to his best friends in Congress?”
Dabaie answered, “People are free to make their choices. I think this might be an example of a rush to judgment. We have not seen any evidence to support these allegations, and people are rushing to judgment. That’s their choice.”
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