The Democratic Women’s Caucus has officially launched “The Reckoning Action” during a news conference outside the US Capitol in Washington DC. Activist Cheyenne Hunt addressed supporters as the new organisation announced plans to confront misogyny, gender bias, and attacks on women’s rights across America. The initiative aims to mobilize political action and raise awareness on gender equality issues ahead of the 2026 election season.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good afternoon. I want to thank the Democratic Women's Caucus and Chairwoman Ledger Fernandez
00:05for standing in solidarity with us today as we grapple with some difficult truths.
00:10We are here to shine a light on something that has recently been exposed on Capitol Hill,
00:15but that we know extends far beyond these grounds. So let me start at the beginning.
00:20A little over a month ago, my best friend told me that as a college student,
00:24she had been sexually harassed by former Congressman Eric Swalwell after a school
00:28trip to the Capitol. She had heard of other women he had targeted,
00:32and I had been warned to stay away from him when I worked on Capitol Hill myself.
00:37As he rose closer toward the California governor's office and another position of power to abuse,
00:42she asked me to use my platform to expose him. After I posted that first video, I was flooded
00:49with messages from women that he had harassed and abused. We called in every favor through countless
00:55late-night calls. We built a coalition connecting survivors across the country.
01:00Women put their reputations and careers on the line to stand against a sitting congressman
01:05to seek justice. This was a man who had the full weight of the patriarchal establishment behind him,
01:11and we came forward to protect women because there would be women who would inevitably come next.
01:17Within 11 days, we broke a story that became a defining moment of accountability in modern American
01:23politics. Swalwell dropped out of the governor's race, resigned from Congress, and now faces multiple
01:29criminal investigations for his behavior. The momentum hasn't stopped there. A second predatory
01:35congressman, Tony Gonzalez, was forced to resign immediately. We received dozens of messages from
01:41women with stories about local politicians, executives, celebrities, and more who had stories to tell.
01:48The moment had a name within days, the reckoning, and every major newsroom in the country asked the
01:54same question. Is the next generation of women having their Me Too movement? The answer is yes,
02:01this is our Me Too movement, but we are building it to last. We are building it for the modern
02:06era.
02:07The generations that came before us were trailblazers. They fought, and we are here to learn and follow in
02:14their footsteps and adapt. Because what we exposed is not just about individual bad actors. The women
02:21behind me know that it's bigger than that. There is a through line from Eric Swalwell to the Epstein
02:26files. There is a through line from P. Diddy to Project 2025. It's a culture of misogyny. Ambient,
02:34structural, and in recent years, deliberate. This has been allowed to fester quietly in our institutions
02:41and now loudly on our screens. What we are fighting is not a coalition of bad men. It is an
02:48ideology. A
02:49coherent, funded, growing movement that has decided strategically that the progress that women have
02:56made over the last 50 years is the problem. That empathy and leadership is a weakness. That women in
03:03positions of power are an aberration to be corrected. That the proper order of things places men at the top
03:10of
03:10every household, every institution, and every ballot. This is not fringe thinking anymore, before you dismiss
03:17what I'm saying. It has think tanks. It has podcasts. It has pulpits. It has the ear of the most
03:24powerful
03:25administration in the world. There are men, prominent men, platformed men, who will proudly proclaim that
03:32women should not have the right to vote. That we should vote by household. One vote, the man's vote,
03:39and they will be invited back on another platform to say it again. This is how regression works. Not
03:46all at once, not with a declaration, but idea by idea, platform by platform, and policy by policy,
03:54until one day you look up and realize the unthinkable has become the law. In the last decade,
04:00we have watched justices who swore to protect precedent overturn Roe v. Wade. We have watched essential
04:06women's health research defunded for being too woke. We watched the Epstein accomplices be named
04:12and yet face no meaningful consequences. We have watched discussions about repealing women's suffrage,
04:19eliminating no-fault divorce, and normalizing sexual violence move from the dark corners of the
04:24internet into the meaningful political discourse. And while we are watching this, women are forced to fight
04:32endless attacks on their basic human rights, and the democratic system erodes around us.
04:38A 2026 global study tells us that this campaign is working. It found that a third of Gen Z men
04:45believe a wife should always obey her husband. They are twice as likely to believe this than their
04:50grandfathers were. Nearly one in four young men believes a woman should not appear too independent or
04:56self-sufficient. Less than half of American women now believe that they are treated with basic respect
05:02and dignity in this country, and that number has fallen by 17 points in the last decade. This is a
05:08crisis. We are a generation of women with fewer rights than our mothers, not because history moved
05:14backwards on its own, but because men in power dragged us here. This was a choice, but what can be
05:20taken
05:21by power can be reclaimed by power. So it is no surprise that women across the country have felt
05:27that they have had no choice but to remain silent, powerless, and alone against the brutality of a
05:33system that tells us we are acceptable collateral for the next election. When your career depends on
05:39the goodwill of a man across the hall, when the system designed to protect you is run by the people
05:44that you would be reporting, when the culture from your workplace to your doctor's office to your timeline
05:49on social media sends the same message on repeat, you will not be believed. We are here today to say
05:56that that ends now. I, along with the survivors who catalyzed this movement, are officially launching
06:03reckoning action to give this fight a permanent home. I came to this work because my own life demanded it.
06:10Thank you. My experiences with abuse taught me before my career ever did that the systems that are
06:18designed to protect women are often the same ones that really protect those in power and those who
06:24are abusers. This organization is built to change that. We understand that the stories we tell leads
06:31to the laws that we pass and leads to the people that we hold accountable or not. The way we
06:37think
06:37about women in our personal lives is exactly how we write the laws that govern them. And right now,
06:42both need to change. This organization was born from the movement that we started together.
06:47But we are not here simply to respond to the next bad actor. We are here to dismantle the conditions
06:53that produce and protect him. We have to get to the root of it, the culture, and fight it there,
06:59while simultaneously contesting every law that enshrines women's subjugation in the statutes of this
07:05country. We are proud to have the support of the Democratic Women's Caucus and to be working with them to
07:10advance legislation that makes Capitol Hill a safer place to work. No staffer should ever have to build
07:17a coalition just to be believed. No young woman should ever have to choose between her career and
07:27her basic dignity. The example that we set here in the halls of power will put every predator across the
07:33country on notice that their time is up. It continues in every state legislature where no-fault divorce is
07:41under attack. It continues in every state where a woman has faced a criminal investigation for pregnancy
07:47loss. In every community where a domestic violence shelter has had its funding pulled. In every comment
07:54section, every algorithm, every media narrative that tells women to be smaller, quieter, more grateful,
08:00and more compliant. We are changing the story. We are contesting the laws. We are making it
08:06politically costly at every level of the ballot for those who stand in our way. There is a difference
08:12between being invited into a room and having the power to change what happens inside it. Generations of
08:19women have fought to be invited and they are trailblazers. And we have been welcomed, applauded, celebrated,
08:26photographed, but ultimately outvoted, outspent, and overruled. A symbolic seat at the table means nothing
08:34if the table is still theirs. So we're not here for the symbolic seat. We're here to flip the table.
08:40The reckoning initiative exists and reckoning action has formed because misogyny is not a relic. It is an
08:47active project being rebuilt and legitimized piece by piece while the national conversation tells us to look
08:54elsewhere. And now this fight has a permanent, organized, and unapologetic opposition. 11 days
09:01showed us what was possible and how quickly we could hold a predator accountable. The reckoning action
09:06team is going to make sure that that potential is realized. Thank you.
09:16And now it is my honor to bring up one of the incredible brave survivors we worked with
09:21who is ultimately part of the reason that this whole movement has started, Ali Samarco.
09:34Hello. First, I want to thank Cheyenne, Annika, and the other women we've come to know
09:40through this process for their courage, as well as the press for covering this story with integrity
09:45and thoughtfulness. This is a story that should have been told years ago, but wasn't. For many
09:52reasons, fear of retaliation, lack of resources, and isolation. It is only because of the courage of
10:00a few women with platforms who brought this forward publicly that we were able to find one another and
10:06stand here together today. Unfortunately, the reality is that there are still individuals in positions of authority
10:13who have engaged in similar conduct, while women continue to carry their experiences in silence.
10:20To those women, you have been placed in an impossible position, one you never asked for.
10:25And that is not fair, but you are not alone and you are not without support.
10:30While some in Congress protect offenders within their own ranks, I'm so proud that my party believes
10:37women and holds its members to a higher standard. I'm proud to stand here with these women today,
10:43but this is not only a woman's fight. It is on each and every one of us to create the
10:48conditions
10:48where women are not only heard, but believed and feel safe enough to come forward. Thank you.
10:56I'd like to now introduce Representative Becca Ballant. Thank you.
11:04Ali, thank you so much for your strength and for your courage. And I'm grateful to be standing with all
11:11of you
11:11in power, in our agency, in our commitment to justice and accountability. Ali, what you and others have done
11:19takes real courage. But here's the thing. It shouldn't take extraordinary courage to work as a staffer here in DC.
11:31It should not take courage to just be able to do your job.
11:35You shouldn't need to risk your safety and security to work in the halls of Congress.
11:42You shouldn't have to just deal with it, meaning abuse and harassment, to have a career helping to shape policy
11:52policy here in our nation's capital. But that's unfortunately the terrible truth of this place all too often.
12:01It's about power. It's about control. And it's about the complicity of people looking the other way.
12:09But we collectively are going to change that reality because you, you have shown us the way.
12:18In just 11 days, survivors and educators came together and advocates across time zones,
12:26across institutions, and built a movement, a movement to bring about a reckoning that led to
12:35the departure of Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzalez. 11 days. And as we all know, it didn't happen
12:44because the system worked. It didn't work. It happened because a group of strong women got together
12:51to make change when the system didn't. The work ahead is going to require all of us to build on
12:59that
12:59energy, on that momentum, on that resilience together. And one day, women in these halls will
13:06not have to just put up with it to serve their country. And men in these halls will not see
13:13their
13:13positions of power as shields or as an excuse for their predatory behavior. That is the work. Changing
13:22policy, changing culture, and making sure that the next generation never has to fight this same fight
13:30again. And I want you to know, we in the Democratic Women's Caucus, we are proud to stand with you
13:36in
13:37solidarity in this work. We are committed to that work and seeing it through to the end. And we are
13:43deeply,
13:44deeply, deeply indebted to you. Thank you. Is Veronica here? No. So I now have the honor
13:52to hand the mic over to the chair of the Women's Caucus, Teresa Leger Fernandez.
13:58Teresa Leger Fernandez. Muchísimas gracias. And thank you very much.
14:04I really do want to thank Cheyenne Allie because you were right. But I'm going to make a little correction.
14:13It's not 11 days. It's more than that. It's both too fast and too quick. Right?
14:22It took too long for us to address the problem here in Congress. I brought the resolution. I filed
14:34the resolution against Tony Gonzalez because he had admitted. He had admitted to violating our code
14:42where you are not allowed to have sexual relations and a woman is dead today. And six weeks after that,
14:50he was still sitting in Congress and refusing to leave. It was only because we were willing to file
14:57resolutions of expulsion that both Tony Gonzalez and Eric Salwa are former members of Congress,
15:07of Congress. Because we must not allow any predators in the house. We must not allow any predators in the
15:15White House. And we must not allow any abusers in any house in America. We must condemn all of it.
15:22We must condemn all of it. And we must do so not just with our voices as we are raising
15:29them today.
15:31But we must bring about the structural change that the reckoning is talking about. A structural change
15:40that I think is also inspired by the Epstein survivors who refused to be silenced even as Epstein told them
15:49that he had the government, he had the banks, and they had no power, and they had no voice.
15:55And they used their voice. They refused silence. The same way that the survivors today and the survivors
16:02that are part of the reckoning refuse to be silenced. But it is our job to raise those voices up
16:10and to
16:11change the structure and the culture that exists right now in Congress, that exists right now at the
16:24White House, and that exists in too many places across America and the world where one in four women
16:34are sexually assaulted and raped one in four women. So this is not a problem that is unique to this
16:46Congress, but we must be a Congress that says we will not continue to go unpunished in this Congress. We
16:57must set up a structure so that when you cross that line, you know what the penalty is, and you
17:02are no longer going to serve here. It should not take a resolution of expulsion to force you out. You
17:15should have been forced out long ago. You should have never been allowed to show up here in the first
17:20place. And that is the work that we are doing together with everybody who is raising those voices,
17:26from the reckoning to the women of the Republicans Women's Caucus who are working with us on these
17:33changes, to the Epstein survivors, to all the survivors across America today who we are representing
17:45because it is our job to always represent every single woman in America, whether they are represented by
17:53us or not. And sadly, there aren't enough women representing America. Right now the Democratic Women's
18:01Caucus is 96 women strong and we are going to break 100 and we are going to surpass 100 because
18:08when women
18:10are in places of power, we will make sure that this kind of heinous action is neither accepted
18:21nor condoned and it is rejected at every point and place. And I want to urge you all, anybody listening,
18:31anybody tuning on to all the amazing voices and platforms of the reckoning,
18:36to reach out. Reach out to them. Reach out to the Democratic Women's Caucus. Reach out to the
18:41Republican Women's Caucus. That is where you feel most comfortable. Reach out to us. We need to hear
18:46your stories. We need to hear from you. If you are a staffer, tell us why. Tell us what we
18:52should change.
18:53We have ideas. We have concepts. No, we have more than that. We have ideas and we are going to
19:00implement
19:00those. But we need to hear from you because you are the experts that we must listen to and that
19:08will
19:08guide our work. And I now want to recognize somebody who has been an incredible leader
19:14in bringing up the legislation because we will pass legislation and we will continue to work on
19:21legislation to address and protect the survivors of sexual assault and violence, of domestic violence.
19:28And one of those leaders is our own chair of the Democratic DPC, Representative Debbie Dingell.
19:38Good afternoon, everybody. I want to thank the survivors and the advocates whose courage brought us here
19:46today. A reckoning doesn't just happen. A reckoning happens when people who've been ignored,
19:54who've been silenced, who've been harmed, refuse to carry the burden of someone else's abuse any longer.
20:04For too long, power has protected itself. Too often, survivors have been asked to absorb the cost of
20:14misconduct while institutions preserve their reputations and careers. This movement reminds us that
20:23accountability cannot depend on party, position, or influence. No title should place someone above
20:33consequence and no survivor should have to fight alone to be heard. This reckoning is about learning
20:42from our past to build a better future, a safer future, a culture in which women and all people
20:50are seen, heard, believed, and protected. It's also about building workplaces. Yes, we're all here talking
20:59about Washington, where power of abuse has been confronted, but where it needs to be confronted
21:07everywhere. Women can lead, work, and serve without fear. I am not old, but I am seasoned.
21:17And I have stories. I could start with domestic abuse. When I was fighting, when I was hiding in a
21:28closet,
21:29when my father had guns, and we were sure we were going to die as he took handles off doors.
21:37And I called
21:38the police. And my father was the man that lived at the top of the hill. And the police would
21:46not come
21:46or help us. I worked at a large institution where I was young, so much younger than before,
21:59where a man stalked me, threatened me, fouled me, tried to take my appraisal down. And I went for help.
22:09I went to HR. I talked to co-workers. And they all knew he was doing it. He didn't hide
22:15it. And they
22:17were sorry, 14th floor likes him, put up with it, or leave. That can't happen anymore. I could tell you
22:26many more stories of sitting at dinners in Washington and having prominent people
22:31put their hand up my skirt and try to touch my new you know what. And you didn't say anything,
22:38because if you did, you were going to hurt yourself, not the institution. And I've worked with many women
22:45who if they said something, their careers were over. It's time to say enough is enough. The reckoning is
22:55here. This week, I introduced bipartisan legislation to revoke federal retirement benefits for members
23:03of Congress convicted, convicted due process matters of serious sexual offenses. Public service
23:11is a privilege. And anyone convicted of these horrific crimes should never receive tax-funded pensions.
23:20Congress has to hold itself to the same standards of accountability we expect everywhere else.
23:26But I also want to say, as someone who worked in the private sector for 30 years, the private sector
23:33needs to live up to these standards too. I'm not naive. This issue is not going to be solved by
23:41one bill, by one speech, one person, or 11 days. It's on all of us to speak up, call out
23:49injustice,
23:50and create a culture that refuses to tolerate this. Not tell somebody, put up with it or your career is
23:59ruined. Put up with it or you'll hurt yourself. It's not okay anymore. And we don't have to do it.
24:06Empowerment is not partisan. Safety is not partisan. Accountability isn't partisan. So I've spent my
24:14whole life fighting for survivors, and was afraid to even tell my domestic violence story forever,
24:20because I didn't want to embarrass my mother, or it didn't happen in homes like mine. It does. And we've
24:26got to say no, no to it now. So to anyone who has felt unsafe, unseen, unheard, confronted with sexual
24:37misconduct or sexual violence, we're here for you. And every one of us needs to stand up with the women
24:44here and across the country to get this done. Thank you. Now I don't think, is Rashida here?
24:50She is.
24:51Rashida, my partner, who by the way, keeps me from crying a lot, and has lived through many of these
24:57moments. My partner in crime, they call us double trouble in Michigan, Rashida Tilleen.
25:03Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much to Congresswoman Dingell.
25:09We all know, you know, this movement, some call Me Too or whatever folks want to label it as,
25:16it really changed our country. But the truth is, it did not make this all the way to Capitol Hill.
25:22You know, we know that Hollywood and some of the other industry, it impacted them,
25:26and we know more work is done. But here in Capitol Hill, it's really talking to survivors
25:32here, I know for a fact that it really hasn't reached here, other than trying to train folks,
25:38but not actual real accountability. So for far too long, I think survivors of sexual assault and
25:43workplace harassment in these halls have been silenced, and they've been ignored and intimidated
25:47and forced to protect the powerful instead of being protected themselves. You know, as a former
25:54staffer, I cannot fully understand that power dynamic. I don't think people understand it until
25:58it happens to them. And this is not just about one person. This is about a system and a culture
26:03that is
26:03allowing people in positions of power right here on Capitol Hill to take advantage of those
26:07that they're supposed to be mentoring, supposed to be protecting and leading. We cannot call for
26:13justice everywhere else while refusing to confront the abuse and misconduct right here within our own
26:18institution that we work in. We stand with survivors. I couldn't be any prouder to be with the Democratic
26:25Women's Caucus under the leadership of Teresa. I don't think she realized, you know, I already thought
26:30she was a badass. But when they came out very strongly, no matter, again, that there was a D next
26:36to
26:37the name, came out very strongly and standing against the claims of rape that were very serious,
26:45and the allegations that were very serious, and did not hesitate, did not waiver. And this is not just
26:52a moment. Again, we know it's a movement, a movement demanding accountability, transparency,
26:55and justice for every survivor of sexual assault and workplace harassment and misconduct. No one,
27:03no matter how powerful they are, no matter what position they hold, they are not above accountability.
27:09They have to create a safe work environment for everyone. I want to read a statement from a survivor
27:14of this type of violence in our institution. She said, quote, if someone had told me two months ago that
27:21I'd find myself caught in a reckoning, born out of one of the most emotionally turbulent periods of my
27:27life, one that left me scared, confused, and deeply disenchanted with politics after interaction with a
27:34congress member I once admired. I would have said that they were crazy. It all began when I came across
27:41an
27:41Instagram video posted by Cheyenne Hunt on March 31st, and I realized to my horror just how common my
27:51experience was due to the member refining his predatory behavior to a science. Though I was
27:59extremely fearful of what speaking out might unleash, I reached out to Cheyenne to share my experience with
28:06her. Within two weeks, a story I once believed I would take to my grave became part of a much
28:12larger
28:13awakening around unapologetic, rampant behavior that exists on Capitol Hill and in politics in general.
28:22Despite the merit of emotions I've carried, not only since those interactions, but especially since
28:31coming forward. I've learned that while my story is unfortunately far from uncommon, I belong to an
28:37army of women who not only understand, but are willing to fight for women like me. And I believe
28:43none of that was by accident. I'm extraordinarily proud of Ms. Hunt, the other advocates and every
28:50survivor, both those who have found the strength to speak out and those who are still carrying the
28:56stories into silence. You are not alone. You are seen, you are heard. You are resilient. The reckoning
29:04is here, and I cannot wait to watch what transcends from this arrival. Before I hand it over to my
29:11amazing colleague and chairwoman Democratic Women's Caucus, I want you all to know my first job outside of
29:16college, I walked into a civil rights organization, a civil rights organization. And within a month or two,
29:24my direct supervisor began sexually harassing me, touching me while I was at my desk. Even after
29:30complaining, going to a board member, I was literally shushed by another woman that I thought would have
29:37protected me. I just want you all to know that many of us here, especially Teresa and I, will never
29:43ever
29:43shush you. We will listen to you, we will believe you, and we will protect you. With that, I introduce
29:50our
29:50amazing, incredible, um, uh, chairwoman of the Democratic Women's Caucus, Teresa Ferrandez.
29:58Thank you. I wanted to just, uh, thank you for sharing, uh, the story. I'm going to share another
30:05story that these are the words of an anonymous survivor who couldn't speak today because the cost for the
30:11survivors' speaking is still too high. So, quote, for years, I said nothing. Not because what happened
30:21didn't matter. I stayed silent because I understood exactly what speaking out against a United States
30:28Congresswoman would mean. And I was terrified. I watched what happened to women who dared to come
30:35forward against powerful men. I knew the risks and I chose silence because I believed it was the
30:42only way to protect myself and the work I love. Coming forward was one of the most terrifying decisions
30:49of my life. This is an industry I am deeply passionate about. It is not just a job. It is
30:57a
30:57calling. For years, I went to work carrying constant fear, dreading the possibility of passing my abuser in
31:07the halls of the most powerful buildings in the country. That fear shaped how I moved through spaces
31:14I had every right to be in. When I finally found the courage to speak, I knew the system was
31:22not built
31:22to protect me. And I was right. After I came forward, Eric Swalwell used campaign funds to come after me
31:31and the other women who bravely told the truth. He hired a private investigator to target and surveil us.
31:39A congressman used resources entrusted to him by voters to intimidate his accusers. And there's no
31:49legal way to stop him. The laws are not designed for women in our position. I was fortunate to have
31:56access to resources that most women do not. And even with those resources, this fight has been exhausting
32:04and terrifying. I think constantly about the women facing the same experiences who cannot fight back,
32:10not because their stories are less valid, but because they cannot afford to. That disparity is
32:19by design. And it has to change. This is exactly why we need an organized effort to fight back on
32:27all fronts,
32:28legally, politically and publicly. Not every survivor will be this lucky and that is unacceptable. I am
32:36proudly grateful to Cheyenne and the other women who have stood beside me and who channeled this pain
32:42into something larger. Reckoning action exists because we refused to let these attacks be the
32:49end of our story. We need accountability. We need reform. We need a world where women do not have to
32:58choose between their safety and their career. I came forward because I had to. And I hope our voices make
33:05it even slightly easier for the next woman to get justice. Close quote.
33:14I now will pass the microphone back to Cheyenne Hunt in gratitude.
33:33Thank you to the survivors who built this movement. Thank you to Ali for bravely speaking her truth and the
33:39survivors who provided statements today. And thank you to the Democratic Women's Caucus for standing in
33:44solidarity with all of them and us as we launch Reckoning Action to be the body that will house
33:50the sustained fight against the cultural resurgence of misogyny. It's time and we stand here today to
33:56put every predator on notice. Enough is enough. You're being watched and your time is up. Thank you.
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