'New era, who dis?': Did Eric Swalwell just lie about not knowing who Dana Loesch is?

Greg P. | 1:21 PM on April 16, 2019

Yesterday, 2020 presidential candidate Eric Swalwell claimed he doesn’t know who Dana Loesch is:

Thank you, Shannon. I spoke at the funeral of a police officer killed by gun violence. I’m running for President to protect them, too. I don’t know who @dloesch is, but it looks like she spends more time worrying about me than she does for gun violence victims. #EndGunViolence https://t.co/MmD2CXs5Md

— Eric Swalwell (@ericswalwell) April 16, 2019

You’d think that a presidential candidate who is running a campaign to ban guns would know that she’s the NRA spox, but whatevs:

New era, who dis? https://t.co/AvVtpjhS0n

— Eric Swalwell (@ericswalwell) April 16, 2019

And we find his claim hard to believe. Or did he think he was just engaging with some random blue-check back in November?

She’s not lying. We should ban assault weapons by buying them back or restricting them to ranges/clubs. #EnoughIsEnough https://t.co/XbRpOvXlF3

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) November 16, 2018

They did get into it in a back-and-forth we covered back then:

Would you limit the ban and confiscation to semi-auto rifles or would you extend the ban to semi-auto handguns also, seeing as they’re illegally used many times over more in crimes such as homicide? https://t.co/Snc8xhXhVp

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) November 16, 2018

Fair question. Rifles. They’re more powerful and cause more carnage when used with a pistol-grip. See @ScottPelley @60Minutes piece. To reduce semi-auto pistol deaths I’d have universal background checks and mandatory reporting on mental health.

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) November 16, 2018

And:

No different. I interpreted her question to mean semi-auto rifles covered under what’s considered an assault weapon. cc: @DLoesch

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) November 16, 2018

And that wasn’t the only time he engaged with Dana. From 2016: