Former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s electronic devices were seized this week in dual operations at a California airport, and his home in Washington, D.C. The Democrat, who resigned from Congress in April amid allegations of sexual misconduct and assault by multiple women, is being investigated on grounds of sexual assault.
According to The Daily Mail, Swalwell was first confronted on Saturday at the San Francisco airport by FBI agents, who seized his cell phone and electronic devices. They also raided the Swalwell family home in D.C. on Sunday, removing additional property from the residence as evidence. Swalwell has not yet been charged with any crimes related to the allegations against him, and it’s unclear if any of his alleged victims are cooperating with the federal probe. Swalwell is being investigated for his alleged sexual misconduct by law enforcement officials in New York and California. He was previously a consistent target of House Republicans, who probed him for an alleged relationship with a Chinese intelligence operative. He was also previously targeted by FBI Director Kash Patel, who has maintained a slow dribble of salacious leaks related to Swalwell’s foreign contacts.
In April, as Swalwell pursued a bid to replace outgoing California Governor Gavin Newsom, four women came forward. Lonna Drewes — a Claifornia-based former model and fashion entrepreneur — claims that in 2018, the Democratic lawmaker drugged and raped her.
“We were supposed to go to a political event and he said he needed to get paperwork from his hotel room,” Drewes said during a press conference in April. “When I arrived at his hotel room I was already incapacitated, I couldn’t move my arms or my body. He raped me and he choked me and while he was choking me I lost consciousness and I thought I died.”
Another accuser, who worked as a staffer for Swalwell, told CNN that she had been assaulted twice by the congressman — both while she worked for him, and after she left his office. In 2019 she said she woke up naked with the congressman in a hotel room after a night of drinking, with evidence of sexual contact on her body, but no memory of the night’s events. In 2024, she alleged that Swalwell left her bleeding and bruised after forcing himself on her and raping her. “I was pushing him off of me, saying no,” she told CNN. “He didn’t stop.”
A third woman described receiving unsolicited nude photographs from Swalwell after reaching out to him on social media. Swalwell denies the allegations against him.
Swalwell suspended his campaign and stepped down from his seat in the House after it became clear that fellow lawmakers would no longer back his candidacy, and that he would likely face an expulsion vote in the House.
I will “fight the serious false allegations made against me,” he said in his resignation, “however, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make. I am aware of efforts to bring an immediate expulsion vote against me and other members. Expelling anyone in Congress without due process within days of an allegation being made is wrong, but it’s also wrong for my constituents, to have me distracted from my duties.”
The accusations against Swalwell are part of a series of harrowing assault allegations leveled against men in the House of Representatives in recent months. Swalwell’s resignation came on the same day as that of Republican Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales, who stepped down from his seat amid accusations that he had had an improper affair with a former staffer, resulting in her ending her own life. Currently, Ohio Rep. Max Miller, the Republican former son-in-law of Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno, is steadfastly refusing to resign his seat or his bid for reelection amid allegations that he physically abused his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, and their daughter.
The House Ethics Committee has been virtually absent throughout most of these debacles, instead leaving it up to individual lawmakers to decide if their conduct merits consequences. Their judgement is clearly lacking.