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Turley - Democrats 'PROTECTED' Swalwell · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: The FBI is investigating claims of sexual misconduct against former
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  Speaker 1: US Congressman from California, Eric Swalwell. Agents seized all of
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  Speaker 1: his electronic devices over the weekend, including those he had
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  Speaker 1: on him at.
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  Speaker 2: The airport in San Francisco.
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  Speaker 1: Swalwell denies any allegations against him. The scandal ended his
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  Speaker 1: campaign for governor in that state in April. Days later,
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  Speaker 1: he resigned from Congress. And if that wasn't enough, newly
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  Speaker 1: released FBI files detail Eric Swalwell's history with suspected Chinese
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  Speaker 1: spy Christine Feng, also known as Fengfeng. In twenty fifteen,
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  Speaker 1: he admitted to agents that he had.
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  Speaker 2: Multiple sexual encounters with her.
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  Speaker 1: Justice correspondent David Spunt has more David.
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  Speaker 3: Hi Harris Well. Eric Swaloll has been quiet for the
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  Speaker 3: most part, at least online his online presence since he
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  Speaker 3: resigned from Congress and ended his campaign in April. He's
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  Speaker 3: denied sexual allegations of sexual misconduct, denied allegations of sexual
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  Speaker 3: miscomp against him. But now there is this criminal investigation, Harris,
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  Speaker 3: and he's the subject. As you mentioned, last week, FBI
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  Speaker 3: agents stopped him at the airport in San Francisco, where
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  Speaker 3: they took specifically his iPhone and MacBook laptop. Fox is
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  Speaker 3: told that Swalwell was cooperative during the airport encounter. He
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  Speaker 3: was not detained or arrested, and the next day Harris
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  Speaker 3: here in Washington, d C. The FBI took electronics from
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  Speaker 3: his home, not far from the capitol where he used
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  Speaker 3: to work. Now, the Swalwell search warrant was filed, listing
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  Speaker 3: a federal statute that makes it a crime for an
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  Speaker 3: official to deprive another person of their constitutional rights, though
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  Speaker 3: unclear specifically what that means for the investigation. Swallwall, as
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  Speaker 3: I mentioned, faces multiple allegations of sexual misconduct from several
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  Speaker 3: different women, including Lana Druze, who claims that he raped
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  Speaker 3: and drugged her at a Hollywood hotel in twenty eighteen
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  Speaker 3: in California.
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  Speaker 2: Here she is, he raped me.
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  Speaker 4: And he choked me, and while he was choking me,
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  Speaker 4: I lost consciousness.
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  Speaker 2: And I thought I died. These allegations of sexual assault
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  Speaker 2: are flat false. They're absolutely false. They did not happen,
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  Speaker 2: they have never happened, and I will fight them with
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  Speaker 2: everything that I have.
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  Speaker 3: And Swalllwo has been answering questions for years about that
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  Speaker 3: relationship with As you mentioned Fang Feang, this was exposed
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  Speaker 3: in his early days in Congress, though he said that
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  Speaker 3: he met her before his time in Congress. Now, he
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  Speaker 3: was favored to be the governor of California. He was
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  Speaker 3: looking good in the polls, but he backed out because
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  Speaker 3: of this. We've reached out to Swallwoll's attorney no comment,
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  Speaker 3: and I will mention the FBI also not commenting on
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  Speaker 3: this pro but we know there is an active investigation,
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  Speaker 3: no question, Harris.
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  Speaker 2: All right, thank you very much.
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  Speaker 1: I want to get in focus now to Jonathan Turley,
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  Speaker 1: George Washington University law professor and Fox News contributor. Let's
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  Speaker 1: talk about this case against Eric Swalwell and the FBI
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  Speaker 1: now in its investigation.
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  Speaker 2: What stands out to you.
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  Speaker 3: Well?
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  Speaker 4: As David noted, Harris, the deprivation of rights is an
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  Speaker 4: interesting twist. We're not sure what the Feds are specifically
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  Speaker 4: alleging here. Much of these sexual abuse allegations are going
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  Speaker 4: to be handled on the state level, that's where they're
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  Speaker 4: normally prosecuted, but we don't quite know where the Feds
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  Speaker 4: are going to come in now. There is often some
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  Speaker 4: cross polonization, you know, the state and federal prosecutors can cooperate,
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  Speaker 4: they can share evidence. So he's looking at really a
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  Speaker 4: two front conflict here with his attorneys trying to fend
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  Speaker 4: off all of these prosecutors.
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  Speaker 1: So what does a penalty look like in this Because
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  Speaker 1: a lot of times and I've read a couple of
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  Speaker 1: your articles this morning, Jonathan excellent on Eric Swalwell in
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  Speaker 1: the Fall of a made Man, and I want to
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  Speaker 1: get into what really happens to him.
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  Speaker 2: He's already lost his career.
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  Speaker 1: He's had women come out speak against him publicly now
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  Speaker 1: and it wasn't just one.
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  Speaker 2: It turned out to be an ex and an ex.
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  Speaker 2: So what's your take.
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  Speaker 4: Well, depending on what is charged. If it is charged,
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  Speaker 4: it can be quite steep. I mean, you just heard
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  Speaker 4: a witness who said that she was physically assaulted and raped.
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  Speaker 4: Obviously you're talking about a very long prison stint in Washington.
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  Speaker 4: This is as scary a story as you can make.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, and people Washington tell each other stories about
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  Speaker 4: Swallow on campfires because he is a made man. He
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  Speaker 4: was made by Nancy Pelosi. And even when all of
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  Speaker 4: this stuff is coming out with feng faning, he was
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  Speaker 4: protected people like Schiff and Pelosi attack people who were saying,
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  Speaker 4: what is he doing on the House Intel Committee if
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  Speaker 4: he was targeted by a Chinese agent and had a
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  Speaker 4: sexual relationship quest those Democrats really went after. Now we
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  Speaker 4: know that, in fact those criticisms were well based, and
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  Speaker 4: yet Pelosi insisted on keeping him on the House Intel
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  Speaker 4: Committee with access to some of our most classified information.
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  Speaker 3: Wow.
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  Speaker 1: Well, perhaps we'll learn more about a lot of things
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  Speaker 1: as the FBI goes forward. I want to get to
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  Speaker 1: the convicted murder Carmelo Anthony two months in jail and
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  Speaker 1: now we're looking at him possibly getting a new trial,
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  Speaker 1: and June, a judge gave him a thirty five year
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  Speaker 1: sentence for the deadly stabbing of Austin Medcalf. After that
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  Speaker 1: stabbing at the Texas High school track meet that they
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  Speaker 1: were both at, the racially charged case sparked explosive protesting.
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  Speaker 1: Remember when this was going on, So it's back because
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  Speaker 1: that was going on during the early parts of the
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  Speaker 1: trial and this was just two days ago. Now Carmelo
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  Speaker 1: Anthony's push for a new trial is revealing what the
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  Speaker 1: jury never heard, Like this text message, prosecutors say Anthony
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  Speaker 1: sent just hours before the stabbing quote, I'm low key
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  Speaker 1: on the verge. There was also evidence suggesting he was
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  Speaker 1: obsessed with knives and guns. And meanwhile, Carmelo, Anthony's lawyer
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  Speaker 1: says Austin Medcalf and two other boys were put on
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  Speaker 1: probation for painting racist graffiti. He also says Medcalf was
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  Speaker 1: sending racist text messages up to the day of the killing.
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  Speaker 1: Anthony's lawyers say an unwritten deal between both sides, the
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  Speaker 1: prosecution and the defense, kept all of that and more
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  Speaker 1: out of court.
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  Speaker 2: Jonathan, your reaction.
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  Speaker 4: Aris, this is pretty extraordinary. This information contains derogatory points
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  Speaker 4: on both of these individuals, the victim and Anthony. And
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  Speaker 4: you know, now this case is becoming part of the
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  Speaker 4: Texas election campaign, with Tall Rico saying that it's knows
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  Speaker 4: that the legal system is failing black Texans, so it's
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  Speaker 4: really taking on this added rhetorical aspect and political aspect.
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  Speaker 4: In reality, the motions for a new trial, in my view,
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  Speaker 4: are fairly anemic. One of the arguments is that I
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  Speaker 4: would have testified, but my lawyers really didn't fully advise
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  Speaker 4: me on this stuff.
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  Speaker 2: That's going to be hard to make out.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, this was a knowing point of strategy on
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  Speaker 4: the point of the defense. This gentleman's agreement, as it's
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  Speaker 4: being referred to, is not that uncommon. Sometimes lawyers and
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  Speaker 4: prosecutors will say, you know what, there's bad stuff here
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  Speaker 4: for both of us. Do we really want this in
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  Speaker 4: the trial. So it was a tradeoff on both sides.
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  Speaker 4: They were saying, both sides decided that they wanted to
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  Speaker 4: minimize the risk. Now is a court going to order
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  Speaker 4: a new trial because of that strategic decision? I think
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  Speaker 4: it still will be tough. And they're also arguing again
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  Speaker 4: that the jury lacked a black juror. But the jury
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  Speaker 4: was not, as is commonly reported, all white. It actually
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  Speaker 4: had minority members, and the prosecutors struck potential black jurors
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  Speaker 4: because they were educators and this was a crime that
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  Speaker 4: occurred on school grounds. So all of that is going
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  Speaker 4: to have to be reviewed here and possibly on appeal.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're talking about the Asian members, the diversity that
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  Speaker 1: was on the court that might not have been black Americans.
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  Speaker 1: Can I just ask you about that for a second.
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  Speaker 1: As you're putting a jury together and both sides can
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  Speaker 1: weigh in, they can strike. I think you get up
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  Speaker 1: to three or more of people that you can just
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  Speaker 1: say no to no matter what the situation. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: is it even legal to just pick out people based
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  Speaker 1: on race or how does it work?
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  Speaker 4: No, it's not legal to pick out people on race.
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  Speaker 4: You can make what's called the bats and objection, and
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  Speaker 4: in that case the court said, you're not entitled to
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  Speaker 4: a jury of a particular racial mix. But at the
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  Speaker 4: same time, under the sixth Amendment and equal protection, prosecutors
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  Speaker 4: cannot strike jurors just because of their race. Now Here
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  Speaker 4: the prosecutors are saying, we didn't we struck them on
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  Speaker 4: the basis of their backgrounds. We felt that they were
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  Speaker 4: going to be more sympathetic to the defense. That is
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  Speaker 4: a valid issue. So the courts will look at this.
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  Speaker 4: And it's not the result that is the determinative factor here,
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  Speaker 4: it is the motivation. Why did the prosecutors do it?
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  Speaker 4: Does this appear objectively reasonable as to why they happened
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  Speaker 4: to strike the black members of the potential jury.
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  Speaker 1: Real quickly, and I mean quick do they get a
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  Speaker 1: change of venue for this, because I mean the public
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  Speaker 1: around this courthouse has weighed in, But now the whole
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  Speaker 1: country is You mentioned James Talerico, who is running for
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  Speaker 1: Congress down in Texas making his voice part of this.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think that's right.
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  Speaker 4: Actually, tall Rico is helping the prosecutors because they could say, look,
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  Speaker 4: you've got a guy running on this around Texas. So
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  Speaker 4: it's often hard to get a venue change. Sometimes courts
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  Speaker 4: will do it just to give that extra benefit. But
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  Speaker 4: first they need to get a new trial, and we'll
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  Speaker 4: have to see how that plays out.
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  Speaker 1: And you've already mentioned the reasons why that likely wouldn't happen,
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  Speaker 1: but we are covering all of it. Jonathan Turley, thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Be sure to like and subscribe for all the Fox
• 10:22
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• 10:26
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