Lawmaker Denies Letting Loose Huge Fart On Live TV

Lawmaker Eric Swalwell is at the center of a live TV fart whodunnit

We couldn’t possibly close out 2019 without one more, um, lingering political scandal. California Rep. Eric Swalwell found himself in the middle of one of the most captivating mysteries of the year when he was being interviewed on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews and someone let rip an absolutely gigantic fart.

There’s not much more to say about the situation than that, so just listen to this yourselves. Turn up the volume, obviously.

What followed that hallowed fart was a whodunnit mystery that seems perfectly suited for the trying times in which we live. The internet wants to know who dealt it, and so far, no one is taking the blame for cutting the cheese. The investigation is still ongoing, and #FartGate has been trending on Twitter since last night, which meets the official requirements for this on-air toot to be a bonafide political scandal. Time to get to the bottom of it.

When Buzzfeed reporter Addy Baird reached out to Swalwell, he was quick to deny any involvement.

Evidence is working against Swalwell here, because, as Baird pointed out, you can see him smile at the moment of the fart, and he seems to be struggling to hide that smile for the rest of the video. He knows what happened, and we may never know if he’s the #FartGate tooter or completely innocent in matters of on-air flatulence.

But there are other possibilities. It could have been someone in the studio — one of the sound or camera people. Who knows how many of them there were? Heck, it could have been Chris Matthews himself, though the guy has been doing TV live shots long enough you’d think he’d know to never trust a fart however silent it may feel.

As #FartGate gained momentum long into the evening hours, Hardball issued an official statement on the toot heard ’round the world. Big shocker here — not only did they also deny any responsibility, but they tried to convince us there was no toot.

Do Hardball execs really think the world is going to fall for this gaslighting campaign… about gas? Because so far, we are not.

Well, except for Swalwell, who was awfully quick to accept Harball‘s explanation of events. Suspiciously quick, in fact.

We know what we heard, and it’s time for someone to fess up. Unless this was all a stunt for Hardball to sell more of those mugs, in which case, well done, Hardball.