Anna Paulina Luna turns the screws on Eric Swalwell’s legislative bestie: ‘It’s very disturbing’

Republican Rep. Ann Paulina Luna has accused embattled Democrat Sen. Ruben Gallego of sexual misconduct and trafficking.

Without initially naming names, she first posited the accusation in a tweet posted Wednesday, directed at Senate Majority Leader John Thune:

In the tweet, she told Thune that he needs “to look into the allegations against one of your Senators” and that her staff would be in touch.

Appearing on CBS News a day later, Luna was asked who exactly she’d been talking about in the tweet.

“We are talking about an Arizona senator that was very closely tied to Eric Swalwell, and I have since confirmed with Sen. John Thune’s chief of staff … that they are investigating, and we are sending all appropriate information directly to them now,” she said.

CBS News interviewer Major Garrett then asked her if she was referencing Swalwell’s best buddy, Sen. Ruben Gallego.

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“Correct,” she replied.

Garrett then asked for more details.

“Well, without, I guess, getting too graphic, there is a woman that allegedly is coming forward with attorneys, wants to go on record about an incident that occurred between the two of them at the same time, and the event was sexual in nature, allegedly,” Luna said.

“But it’s not just that, there’s also two, apparently, issues of campaign finance violations. Again, look, I am one member of Congress, but I’m not going to be like some of my colleagues that waited, you know, forever and a day to bring this information forward. I think that if this is happening, that it needs to be dealt with,” she added.

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Garrett then asked her if the allegations against Gallego are “criminal in nature.”

“I think that if it involves people that were potentially trafficked, yes,” Luna replied. “Regarding the campaign finance violations, I think that that’s cut and dry. But right now, again, I’m not investigating this. I’m simply presenting this information to the authorities that have the positions and power to do what they will with it.”

Luna’s stunning accusation comes as Gallego faces extra scrutiny over his ties to Swalwell, who in recent days has been accused of sexual harassment and even rape by a slew of different women.

The senator has, for his part, alleged that he knew nothing about Swalwell’s bad behavior.

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“I want to be clear: I had no knowledge of the allegations of assault, harassment, and predatory behavior against Eric Swalwell,” Gallego said in a social media statement. “I trusted someone who I believed was a friend, but it is now clear that he is not the person I thought I knew.”

Gallego later doubled down in remarks to reporters, telling them that Swalwell had led a “double life” and that he’d had “no clue” about it.

The two have reportedly been friends since Gallego was a House member from 2015 to 2025. During the COVID pandemic, the two famously traveled to Qatar together with their wives.

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Vivek Saxena

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