(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) A former Axios reporter who admitted being complicit in the media cover-up of former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s alleged sexual predation tried to deflect blame onto conservative media for failing to do her job in her absence.
Bethany Allen admitted after the Democrats gave the green light to turn against Swalwell that she had known for years about the allegations of sexual assault involving congressional staffers, sex workers, Chinese honeypot spies and others.
But she shrugged off the bombshell scoop, ostensibly because it did not fall under her “beat” as an international correspondent.
I did not play it down. I very much wanted to report it out myself. But MeToo stories on the Hill aren't related to my beat, as much as I personally wish I could report them out. I passed the tip along to colleagues on the Hill beat.
— Bethany 貝書穎 (@BethanyAllenEbr) April 13, 2026
“I very much wanted to report it out myself,” she claimed. “But MeToo stories on the Hill aren’t related to my beat, as much as I personally wish I could report them out,” she added. “I passed the tip along to colleagues on the Hill beat.”
In a lengthy exchange with conservative pundit Stephen L. Miller, she went on to acknowledge that her Axios higher-ups were in support of her chasing leads on Swalwell but that it was “not set up as an investigative outlet.”
Instead, Allen said that it the obligation to hold corrupt and degenerate Democrat politicians accountable fell squarely on right-leaning media outlets.
What we've witnessed here is a years-long, catastrophic failure of conservative media to demonstrate to Democratic staffers that they are fair and professional news outlets who can be trusted with sensitive information.
Fox News should have been all over Swalwell's sexual… https://t.co/NyCU8oBCnt
— Bethany 貝書穎 (@BethanyAllenEbr) April 17, 2026
She further deflected on the issue by declaring that it was conservative outlets’ own fault if they were not entrusted with the dirt of Democrat officials because they had shown themselves to be untrustworthy — presumably by reporting the damning details without waiting for the dog-whistle signal to proceed.
“What we’ve witnessed here is a years-long, catastrophic failure of conservative media to demonstrate to Democratic staffers that they are fair and professional news outlets who can be trusted with sensitive information,” Allen claimed.
Shockingly, Allen herself claimed to have been a victim of sexual assault during the smear campaign to derail Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation with baseless inuendo.
Allen, then a reporter for the left-wing Daily Beast, was used by other left-wing outlets as a way to explain why Kavanaugh hoaxer Christine Blasey Ford had waited decades to report her allegation that Kavanaugh had raped her during a boozy house party in high school.
Allen claimed that she was afraid if she had spoken out at the time of her alleged assault, she would have been blamed for it and would have faced reputational damage.
— Mark Judge (@markgjudge) April 17, 2026
Remarkably, Allen’s delusional diatribe may not have been the most egregious attempt by the leftist press to spin their dereliction of duty in reporting the Swalwell story.
CNN’s resident shill Brian Stelter drew ridicule for declaring that the media’s yearslong cover-up of Swalwell’s sex crimes — only to amplify them when it behooved Democrat political interests — was, in fact, “a testament to the power of investigative reporting.”
Eric Swalwell ending his bid for California governor is, among other things, a testament to the power of investigative reporting pic.twitter.com/4xzUg944dt
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) April 13, 2026
Some pointed out that Stelter perfectly fit the description of Tom Parsons, the devoted Ministry of Truth official in George Orwell’s 1984.
The first evidence of investigative reporting will be the unlikely occurrence of a reporter finding out why all this was buried for so long, and then released in a coordinated manner. But you knew that. pic.twitter.com/m0rDJW3jW6
— 100 Proof 🥃 (@ChampionCapua) April 13, 2026
Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.
