2 Swalwell accusers discuss his downfall and the fear of coming forward: "He thought he was untouchable"

Two women who have accused Rep. Eric Swalwell of misconduct told CBS News that, while they feel "vindicated" now that he has dropped his bid to become California's next governor and will resign from his seat in Congress, there is still work to be done.

"He was pushed into a corner, essentially, because they were planning to expel him … so I think he did that to save face a little," Ally Sammarco, whose accusations were first detailed in a CNN report, told CBS News. "But I also felt very vindicated that he realized it was over for him."

Annika Albrecht, who is publicly coming forward as an accuser for the first time, said, "For me, justice won't be until he can't ever harm a woman ever again, and he has faced the consequences for the women that he has harmed."

Swalwell's political ambitions have unraveled in recent days as he's been accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct, including allegations of sexual assault and sending unsolicited explicit messages and nude photos. The Democratic congressman announced Monday that he will be resigning from Congress, one day after he said he was dropping out of the California gubernatorial race.

Swalwell has vowed to fight what he called the "false allegations" and has claimed they were politically motivated to hurt his gubernatorial bid.

Albrecht and Sammarco vehemently deny any accusations they were part of a coordinated campaign from a rival candidate or party. 

"We didn't know each other before. I didn't know any of the other women," Sammarco said. "I knew nothing about them. We got connected through this process, and I'm so glad we did."

That process started about two weeks ago, when Albrecht says she contacted Cheyenne Hunt, an influencer and friend of many years, asking her to share a video with her story about Swalwell. She said she felt compelled to do so because she felt "physically sick and nauseous" at the idea of Swalwell becoming governor of California.

"Eleven days is how long it took from when I reached out to [Cheyenne] to make the video to when the dam broke and all the articles were published," Albrecht said, calling them "the longest 11 days of our lives."

Hunt told CBS News that after posting the video, she was "immediately slammed" with messages from other women accusing Swalwell of inappropriate behavior, and she was on the phone with some of them within two hours. 

Hunt said one of the women described a "full-on assault. That was when I realized this was a lot bigger than any of us knew," and was a "different level of severity."

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office confirmed to CBS News on Sunday that it is investigating allegations against Swalwell after the San Francisco Chronicle published a story detailing an unnamed former staffer's accusations of sexual assault in California and in New York. Swalwell denied it and threatened to take legal action against the woman.

Hunt told CBS News the alleged assault she was told about is separate from the one being investigated by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.

"He thought he was untouchable. He acted with total impunity. He never thought that the consequences of his actions would follow him," Sammarco said.

"I think we just prevented another 30 to 40 years, potentially, of him harming people if he were to stay in Congress," she said. 

"As governor, he would have had even more power and more authority. And he would have felt vindicated too, you know, that he could run for higher office," she added. " He ran for president and nothing came out about him. So I think that empowered him to continue doing what he was doing."

Both Albrecht and Sammarco told CBS News they had had similar interactions with Swalwell.

Sammarco said she met Swalwell in 2021, when she was 24 and working in an entry level role on a political campaign for former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. 

She said she messaged Swalwell on Twitter because they had similar upbringings - both grew up in homes with Republican parents. She figured he wouldn't even see her message, but says he responded "fairly quickly" and the two continued messaging each other over the next day before moving to text messages, which CBS News has reviewed. 

In the messages, he said he wanted to help her further her career in politics, and the two kept in touch. "I felt like a million bucks" she said, adding, "I was thrilled, and I was flattered."

Sammarco said Swalwell eventually began to send her messages that "I thought had a weird connotation to them," but she said she "trusted that he was an established figure who wouldn't put his credibility on the line." 

Eventually, he asked her to communicate via Snapchat, a messaging app that deletes messages after they're sent. She said she thought it was unusual for a man in his 40s who was married and had children to be using such an app, but she was afraid of possibly losing such an important professional connection.

She said the messages again started out professional but then slowly became more explicit. 

"He was sending me photos of his face….he was drinking in a lot of them. He would ask me if I was drinking too or tell me I should have a drink with him," she said. Sammarco said he never directly asked her to send him any explicit pictures of her, but that one night he sent her a photo of his penis.

"I was shocked," she said. 

She told CBS News, "I don't think I responded," and said he changed the subject and moved on.

Albrecht says she met Swalwell while on a class trip in college. She and a group of other students met with him to discuss issues they thought were important, and Swalwell appeared interested and passionate, she said.

At the end of the meeting, she says he asked the students to create a group chat so he could continue discussing the issues with them. Albrecht said after that group chat was created, he added her on Snapchat almost immediately.

"I was really surprised. I was confused. I didn't think it was him," she said. Albrecht said she asked the others in the group if Swalwell had also added them as contacts on Snapchat, but they said he had not. Albrecht added that she was the only woman in the group.

Albrecht, like Sammarco, also dreamed of working in politics, and said Swalwell began talking to her "under the guise of professional mentorship," telling her he could help her achieve her dream job of one day becoming a chief of staff.

She said the Snapchat messages "started to take a turn and they started to get flirty," but she responded in a "platonic and professional manner." Eventually, she said, Swalwell's messages crossed the line into "sexually inappropriate."

Albrecht said one night, Swalwell invited her to a hotel to meet him, and it was "very clear what the connotation was." She says she didn't respond.

"I keep thinking about how lucky I am that didn't go to that hotel," Albrecht said, referring to the Chronicle's report detailing the accusation of a woman who said that after going out for drinks with Swalwell in September 2019, she woke up naked in his hotel bed with little recollection of the night, which Swallwell denies.  

"It was terrifying to get on the phone with those women and hear their stories about how they were drinking with him and suddenly woke up in bed next to him with no recollection of how they got there," Albrecht said. 

Hunt says she has heard similar accusations from two women, and that more than 30 women have reached out to her with some form of misconduct accusation against Swalwell since she posted her initial video.

Hunt also recalled how she was warned about Swalwell through a whisper network years ago when she was working on Capitol Hill, telling CBS News that people told her, "Stay away from Swalwell. Do not engage with him on social media. Do not be alone with him."

But while Swalwell is set to exit Congress, there is still some trepidation.

"I want to see him out now," Albrecht said, noting his statement announcing his resignation leaves open the possibility he could remain in his seat for a while. 

"He gave off this perception that he was a family man. That he was a fighter. That he was a defender of women. And that couldn't be further from the truth," Sammarco said of Swalwell. 

"If these are the people that are out there championing women and, you know, protectors of women, and 'We need to hold people accountable,' and then behind closed doors they're doing this, that is a huge discrepancy for anybody who's working in politics," she added.

Hunt said the women who have come forward have "been embraced and that their bravery is being so greatly respected."

But "this fight is not over. We're just getting started," she said, adding, "It's clear that there needs to be another reckoning."

Watch more of the interview Tuesday on "CBS Mornings" and the "CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil."