“The View” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin explained why she thinks “rumors matter” as she recalled her own experiences around Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) during Wednesday’s episode of the show.

Swalwell announced his plans to resign from Congress as well as the end to his bid for California governor on Monday after allegations of rape and sexual misconduct from multiple women came to light in reports last week.

As the ladies of “The View” discussed Swalwell, Griffin talked about why Washington, D.C., is especially vulnerable to stories and instances of people abusing their positions of power.

“The #MeToo movement caught up media and business figures,” the former Republican congressional spokesperson said. “It didn’t touch politics. Look no further than the landscape of D.C. There’s no HR. Every office for a member of Congress is basically its own office. And if the predator is the person at the top of the office, there’s nowhere to go. There’s this power dynamic. There’s a fear factor.”

Griffin admitted she had heard things about Swalwell’s behavior and even witnessed him in situations that gave her pause as she explained why she thinks victims shouldn’t be the only ones responsible for calling out abusers.

“I do think the rumors matter, because, to be honest, I had heard and even experienced — nothing wrong or criminal — but I’ve been with Eric Swalwell when he seemed ‘overserved,’” she said.

“I’m not saying something that I wouldn’t have said to his face,” she went on, saying the experience was something noted and then “filed it away.”

“Just as a woman, you pay attention when you’re like, ‘This is a business setting. This is something I’m not super comfortable with,’” Griffin explained.

“People who even had a little inkling should have stepped up and said something, and if you knew of something wrong, something criminal, you absolutely needed to,” she concluded.

After allegations against Swalwell were detailed in reports from the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN, his friend and former ally, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said he had heard rumors about the congressman’s “flirty” conduct with women but never witnessed anything that compelled him to speak out against him.

Gallego admitted he misjudged things during an emotional press conference on Tuesday, where he said, “We have to be honest with ourselves. Like, I think a lot of people in D.C. treat these kinds of rumors as just like part of the course of playing, you know, here, or something like that. We should have figured out how to approach that.”

Watch Griffin’s comments above.

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