FBI Raids Swalwell's Home, Seizes Devices In Sexual Assault Investigation: Reports

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Federal agents raided the home of ex-Congressman Eric Swalwell over the weekend in connection with a civil rights investigation into accusations of sexual assault against the embattled East Bay politician, according to the New York Times.

Swalwell was stopped at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday and was forced to give up his devices to federal agents armed with a warrant, according to the New York Times report.

Agents then searched his Washington, D.C., home on Sunday, according to a CNN report.

Swalwell has not responded to requests for comment from multiple news publications.

Swalwell, who spent more than a decade representing California's 14th Congressional District, was a frontrunner to become California's governor before sexual assault allegations upended his political career.

In April said in a statement on Swalwell's behalf that he "categorically and unequivocally denies each and every allegation of sexual misconduct and assault that has been leveled against him."

Swalwell has also claimed the accusations were politically motivated.

The probe by the FBI is just the latest investigation into the accusations against Swalwell.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office opened a criminal investigation against Swalwell in April after a former staffer told CNN and the Chronicle that Swalwell raped her at a hotel while he was in New York City for a charity gala in 2024.

The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department has also opened criminal investigations against the politician in the wake of the accusations.

A woman told CNN that Swalwell raped her at a Southern California hotel in 2018.

A lawyer representing Lonna Drewes, a California woman who in April said she had been raped in 2018 by Swalwell, said his team was cooperating with all law enforcement agencies investigating the former congressman.

“We are encouraged to learn about the escalation of the FBI’s investigation into the allegations against Eric Swalwell,” attorney Arick Fudali said in a statement.

Drewes spoke of the assault at a news conference days after Swalwell dropped out of the California governor’s race.

She said she had one glass of wine that evening and believes Swalwell drugged her before raping her.

Swalwell denied that assault.

Alameda County prosecutors earlier this year said that despite the accusations against Swalwell, they have not opened a criminal investigation against him because no victim has come forward.

Swalwell, an Iowa native, was elected in 2012 and represented a House district east of San Francisco. He launched a presidential run in April 2019 but ended it a few months later after failing to catch on with voters.

He was one of Republican President Donald Trump’s top Democratic antagonists in Congress. He was a prominent member of the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees during Trump's first term and served as one of several Democratic prosecutors for Trump’s second impeachment after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Swalwell was removed from the Intelligence Committee by then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in 2023 based on Swalwell's contact with a suspected Chinese spy, Christine Fang.

The White House on Monday released declassified documents where Swalwell admitted in a 2016 interview with the FBI that he had a years-long sexual relationship with Fang.

Swalwell's lawyer, Sara Azari, told the Chronicle that "nothing new" was revealed in the documents and suggested they were being used to "punish an outspoken critic of the current administration."

The White House said it released the documents "as part of a broader effort to unmask foreign threats to U.S. political and election systems."

Associated Press reporter Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.

Read more from the New York Times and CNN.