Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy, claimed Tuesday night that the Democratic Party runs an internal blackmail operation to keep its own members in line. The remarks came just hours after Eric Swalwell officially resigned from Congress amid a wave of sexual assault and misconduct allegations.
Speaking with Fox News host Jesse Watters, Miller used Swalwell’s fall from power as a jumping-off point for the broader theory, according to Raw Story. “The most important part about this story, and look, Swalwell is a scumbag, he is a terrible person, the worst of the worst, the lowest of the low, the most dishonest of the most dishonest, but the real story here,” Miller said, “is how the Democrat party controls its members through blackmail.”
He then doubled down. “It’s got a blackmail file on all of its politicians and it uses them to leverage and control them until it’s time to release it,” Miller declared. “That is how sick and twisted the Democrat Party is.”
The Swalwell scandal that sparked Miller’s remarks
Swalwell’s resignation marked one of the fastest political collapses in recent congressional memory. As CNBC reported, the California Democrat had been one of the front-runners to replace Governor Gavin Newsom before allegations from multiple women derailed his campaign and his career in a matter of days.
CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle first broke the story last week, with a former staffer claiming Swalwell sexually assaulted her on two separate occasions. Three additional women subsequently told outlets they had received unsolicited explicit messages and photos from him via Snapchat. He has repeatedly denied all allegations of assault.
On Tuesday, a fifth accuser, Lonna Drewes, held a press conference in Beverly Hills with her attorney, Lisa Bloom, alleging that Swalwell had drugged and raped her at a hotel in 2018. “My delay in taking action against Eric was driven by fear, not doubt — fear of his political power,” Al Jazeera reported Drewes as saying. Bloom’s firm said it would be filing a police report with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s office.
The House Ethics Committee opened a formal investigation on Monday, the same day Swalwell posted on X that he would step down. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is also conducting a criminal probe into the assault allegations, and the Department of Homeland Security is separately investigating claims that Swalwell and his wife employed a Brazilian nanny without lawful work authorization.
The resignation of Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas happened in parallel. Gonzales had previously admitted to an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide, and the House Ethics Committee had also launched an investigation into his conduct. Gonzales announced his retirement from Congress on Tuesday.
Backlash to Miller’s claims
The remarks drew immediate pushback online. Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan replied on X that “every Republican accusation is a confession.” Conservative attorney and Democratic congressional candidate George Conway wrote that Miller “is a sick man, exhibit number 2,459,729.” Behavioral scientist Caroline Orr Bueno remarked that Republicans “would never blackmail each other” because “Putin is in charge of that.”
Miller’s comments echoed broader conspiracy theories that have circulated around the Jeffrey Epstein case. The White House has not issued any evidence to support the blackmail claim.
The Trump administration has had no shortage of aggressive foreign and domestic moves in recent weeks. JD Vance, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner were recently dispatched to Pakistan for talks aimed at brokering an Iran ceasefire, and Trump has separately warned China of “big problems” over a reported weapons deal with Iran.
Governor Newsom has announced a special election for August 18, 2026, to fill Swalwell’s 14th congressional district seat.
