INTERNACIONAL
Swalwell in the hot seat after spending over $200K in campaign cash on personal childcare: ‘Slippery slope’
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FIRST ON FOX: A campaign finance expert is slamming progressive Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., for spending over $200,000 of his congressional campaign cash on an «inherently personal» expense: childcare.
Swalwell, who has been in Congress since 2013 and ran a brief and unsuccessful presidential bid in 2019, is currently running for California governor.
A Fox News Digital review of Federal Election Commission filings dating from 2019 to 2025 found that Swalwell’s congressional campaign has reimbursed him over $200,000 for childcare-related costs.
A significant portion of those expenses, over $22,000, from his most recent House and gubernatorial campaign filings were for just three months of childcare from October to December 2025. The three payments on his gubernatorial campaign filing for «childcare» are made out to his wife, Brittany Swalwell, and total over $6,000.
ERIC SWALWELL BOASTS ‘AVENGERS’ ROSTER OF DEMOCRATIC LEADERS, FORGETS GAVIN NEWSOM
Representative Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., is currently running for California governor. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)
The FEC filings show that the campaign dished out over $102,000 to an individual named Amanda Barbosa in Dublin, California, between 2021 and 2025, a Fox News Digital review found. Her LinkedIn profile says she has been a «childcare provider» at a «private practice» since September 2021, one month before her first Swalwell campaign payment, and is an «aspiring occupational therapist.» Her Facebook says she is Washington, D.C.-based and is pictured with the Swalwell family in a few of the photos, including at Disney World last June.
$57,324.40 was paid to Bambini Play & Learn Child Development Center, a Spanish immersion daycare and preschool in Washington, D.C., between 2023 and 2025. The monthly tuition for the child development center is between $2,520 and $3,280, according to Bambini’s website.
Childcare reimbursement is the reason listed for the vast majority of these costs. The filings also list $9,713.42 for reimbursement for payroll tax for campaign childcare, $1,943.35 for «childcare for campaign event,» $1,124.11 for travel expenses, food, beverage and childcare reimbursement and $625.91 for childcare, food & beverages reimbursement, among other payments.
Federal law prohibits the use of campaign finances for personal expenses. However, in 2018, the FEC issued an opinion that deemed childcare expenses caused by campaign activity to be not personal use.
In 2022, Swalwell, who has three children ages 8, 7 and 4, appealed to the FEC to clarify whether he could use campaign funds to pay for overnight childcare. The FEC approved the request, issuing another opinion allowing Swalwell to use campaign funds to pay for overnight childcare when he incurs those costs due to his own campaign travel.
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Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., conduct a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on Wednesday, January 25, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Allen Mendenhall, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies and a senior advisor at Capital Markets Initiative, said the FEC’s decision is problematic because childcare is an «inherently personal» expense.
«It’s an expense that candidates with young children will incur regardless of whether they’re in a campaign,» he said. «I have childcare costs. Many people have childcare costs, and we can’t just use this other money to subsidize our things.»
He said that this FEC decision risks setting a new precedent that allows candidates to pass off their childcare costs to donors. He believes this «opens the slippery slope» for a whole set of costs that could be conceivably justified as campaign expenses, such as clothing, grooming and beyond.
«The danger here,» Mendenhall explained, «is creating a special class of politicians who are insulated from normal constraints, ordinary constraints that everybody else has to deal with.»
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Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., during a hearing of the House Intelligence Committee in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill November 20, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Samuel Corum – Pool/Getty Images)
«Campaign law exists not to underwrite the private lives of politicians, but to ensure that political speech is protected and that public advocacy occurs, that we have electoral competition,» he said. «Election laws are in place to try to maintain the integrity of our electoral system, and that decision, I think, undermines the integrity of the system.»
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Fox News Digital reached out to Swalwell’s campaign and office, Barbosa, and the Bambini childcare development center.
eric swalwell,california,democratic party,elections
INTERNACIONAL
Bill Clinton declara por el caso Epstein y asegura que no conocía los delitos del financista condenado por pedofilia: «No hice nada malo»
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Scouting America, the organization previously known as the Boy Scouts of America, has agreed to make several changes, according to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
The group is under pressure from the U.S. Department of War, which has threatened to yank its support.
In a video message issued on Friday, Hegseth said he had been «very seriously considering ending our support of scouting altogether,» accusing the group of adopting «radical, woke ideology.»
But he said the organization has agreed to implement changes, mentioning five, while indicating there were more.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth walks through Statuary Hall to the State of the Union address during a Joint Session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
«First, Scouting America has agreed to comply immediately with the provisions of Executive Order 14173. This includes reviewing and replacing politicized, divisive, and discriminatory language throughout the organization, programs, and all publications. No more DEI, zero,» he declared.
He said that a DEI-related merit badge has been discontinued.
«Third, Scouting America will modify its policy to make clear that membership will be based solely on biological sex at birth and not gender identity,» he said. «That means that the application, any application, will have only two sex designations, male and female, and the application must match the applicant’s birth certificate. Scouting will also make clear that biological boys and girls will not be allowed to occupy or share intimate spaces together. Toilets, showers, tents, anywhere like that,» Hegseth noted.
«Fourth, Scouting America will honor those who serve by waiving the registration fees for children of active duty, guard, and reserve families,» he noted. «Fifth, in partnership with the War Department, Scouting America will introduce a new military service merit badge.»
BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA NAME CHANGE BECOMES OFFICIAL IN EFFORT TO BE MORE ‘INCLUSIVE’
United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth speaks during a visit to Sierra Space in Louisville, Colorado on Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
The organization said in a statement on Friday, «Scouting America is proud to uphold our longstanding commitment to military families across the globe through a renewed, strengthened partnership with the Department of War. Over several months, we engaged in dialogue with Department leadership to align on how we could deepen our service to military families, while making programmatic updates to comply with Executive Order 14173.»
«Today we are moving forward with implementing new programmatic elements that deliver on that mission: waiving registration fees for military families, launching a new merit badge focused on military service and veterans, and reinforcing our commitment to Scouting’s foundational ideas: leadership, character, duty to God, duty to country and service,» the release noted.
Earlier this month, Assistant to the Secretary of War for Public Affairs Sean Parnell said in a post on X, «Our review of the DoW’s financial assistance and partnership with Scouting America, including its quadrennial National Jamboree celebration, has been rigorous and ongoing.»
Hegseth said in his video message on Friday that the department will evaluate the group’s progress in six months.
He said the Department of War’s «support for Scouting America is contingent on them making substantial progress toward reaching these and many other positive changes in the next six months.»
HEGSETH APPEALS RULING BLOCKING PUNISHMENT OF DEM SENATOR OVER ‘ILLEGAL ORDERS’ VIDEO
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell speaks during a press conference at the Pentagon on March 17, 2025, in Arlington, Virginia. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
«If we’re unsatisfied with Scouting America’s progress toward and commitment to the agreed-upon reforms, we will find them in violation of the president’s executive order and cease our support,» he said. «Ideally, I believe the Boy Scouts should go back to being the Boy Scouts, as originally founded, a group that develops boys into men. Maybe someday.»
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politics,military,pete hegseth,donald trump,woke
INTERNACIONAL
Bill Clinton testifica en el Congreso de EE.UU. por su relación con Epstein: “No vi nada ni hice nada malo”
El expresidente estadounidense Bill Clinton comenzó a declarar este viernes ante una comisión del Congreso en Washington DC que investiga los vínculos de figuras públicas con el financista acusado de delitos sexuales Jeffrey Epstein, en una audiencia marcada por la tensión partidaria y los intentos de los demócratas de redirigir el foco hacia la relación del actual mandatario, Donald Trump, con el empresario fallecido en prisión en 2019.
Clinton, de 79 años, aparece mencionado de forma destacada en las más recientes revelaciones de los llamados “archivos Epstein”, difundidos tras la publicación de millones de documentos por parte del Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos.
Leé también: Hillary Clinton pidió que el comité legislativo que investiga el caso Epstein cite a declarar a Trump
En su declaración inicial, el exmandatario reiteró que rompió relaciones con Epstein “bastante antes” de que este fuera condenado en 2008. “No tenía idea de los delitos que (Epstein) estaba cometiendo. No importa cuántas fotos me muestren, hay dos cosas que, al final, importan más que sus interpretaciones de esas fotos de hace 20 años. Sé lo que vi y, más importante aún, lo que no vi. Sé lo que hice y, más importante aún, lo que no hice”, afirmó.
“Ni siquiera con la perspectiva que da el tiempo, nunca vi nada que me hiciera dudar”, agregó.
Esta foto sin fecha de la colección personal de Jeffrey Epstein, proporcionada por los demócratas del Comité de Supervisión de la Cámara de Representantes el 12 de diciembre de 2025, muestra al expresidente Bill Clinton posando con Epstein y Ghislaine Maxwell (2.ª por la derecha). (Foto: AFP)
En estas declaraciones iniciales, que el expresidente hizo públicas en su cuenta de X, se mostró muy contundente: “No vi nada ni hice nada malo”.
Y señaló: “Como alguien que creció en un hogar con violencia doméstica, no solo no habría volado en su avión si hubiera tenido la menor idea de lo que estaba haciendo, sino que lo habría denunciado yo mismo”.
La comparecencia se produjo un día después de la de Hillary Clinton, quien también declaró en Chappaqua, cerca de Nueva York, donde reside la pareja. Ambos solicitaron que las audiencias fueran públicas y televisadas, pero el Comité de Supervisión de la Cámara de Representantes resolvió realizarlas a puertas cerradas.
“Nos llevó siete meses traer a los Clinton hasta aquí. Ahora que los tenemos, vamos a hacer muchas preguntas”, afirmó el presidente del comité, el republicano James Comer.
Leé también: El príncipe Andrés quedó “en libertad bajo investigación” luego de estar 11 horas detenido por el caso Epstein
Desde la bancada demócrata, el legislador Suhas Subramanyam pidió que Trump sea citado a declarar. “Seamos realistas, hoy estamos hablando con el presidente equivocado”, dijo, al acusar al mandatario de obstaculizar la investigación.
Durante su testimonio, Bill Clinton reconoció haber volado en el avión de Epstein en varias ocasiones a comienzos de los años 2000 para actividades humanitarias vinculadas a la Fundación Clinton, aunque negó haber visitado la isla privada del financista en el Caribe. Bill Clinton y una mujer aparecen en esta imagen tomada en la finca de Jeffrey Epstein y publicada por el Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos el 19 de diciembre de 2025 (Foto: REUTERS)
También remarcó que la mera mención en los archivos no constituye prueba de delito y que no existen acusaciones en su contra.
En paralelo, nuevas fotografías surgidas de los archivos de Epstein muestran al exmandatario recostado en una bañera de hidromasaje —con parte de la imagen censurada— y en otra nadando junto a una mujer identificada como Ghislaine Maxwell, excolaboradora del financista. El expresidente estadounidense Bill Clinton nada en una piscina junto a Ghislaine Maxwell en esta imagen publicada por el Departamento de Justicia en Washington DC el 19 de diciembre de 2025. (Foto: REUTERS)
Por su parte, Hillary Clinton afirmó que su citación se basó en la “suposición” de que tenía información sobre las actividades delictivas de Epstein y Maxwell. “Permítanme ser lo más clara posible: no tengo esa información”, declaró, y negó haber viajado en el avión del financista o visitado su isla.
Epstein, un influyente financista neoyorquino con vínculos entre ricos y poderosos, fue condenado en 2008 por solicitar sexo a menores de edad y murió en 2019 en una cárcel de Nueva York mientras enfrentaba un segundo juicio por tráfico sexual, en una muerte considerada suicidio.
Los Clinton habían rechazado inicialmente las citaciones, pero accedieron a declarar tras la amenaza republicana de desacato. Los demócratas, en tanto, sostienen que la pesquisa ha sido utilizada con fines políticos más que como una investigación genuina.
(Con información de AFP)
Bill Clinton, Jeffrey Epstein
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