Federal agents armed with a search warrant confronted former Rep. Eric Swalwell at San Francisco International Airport and seized his phone and laptop, escalating a criminal investigation tied to multiple sexual misconduct allegations.
The FBI intercepted Swalwell, 45, at SFO on Saturday evening, presenting the former California Democrat with a federal search warrant before confiscating his iPhone, MacBook Pro, and other electronic devices, the New York Post reported. The seizure occurred at approximately 8:25 p.m. Agents also collected additional undisclosed potential evidence. Swalwell reportedly cooperated throughout the encounter.
The airport confrontation was only the first move. The following day, federal agents executed additional search warrants at Swalwell's Washington, D.C., residence, seizing further potential evidence, AP News reported. The back-to-back searches mark a sharp escalation in a federal criminal probe into sexual misconduct allegations that have accumulated against the former congressman over several years.
The scope of the allegations is substantial. At least four women have publicly accused Swalwell of sexual misconduct, including a former staffer who alleged he assaulted her on two separate occasions, once in 2019 and again in 2024, while she was too intoxicated to consent. Breitbart News reported that the former staffer described the incidents as rape. Fox News put the total number of accusers at five, including women alleging unsolicited explicit messages and nude photos.
Two women who have publicly discussed allegations against Swalwell told CNN they had also spoken with the FBI, a detail reported by the Washington Examiner.
Swalwell resigned from Congress in April after the allegations mounted. He also suspended his campaign for the California governor's race. The man who once aspired to run for the White House saw both his legislative career and his statewide ambitions collapse under the weight of the accusations.
Swalwell has long maintained his innocence on all counts. At the time of his resignation, he said he would "fight the serious false allegations" made against him, while acknowledging he "must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make," Fox News reported.
That statement, pledging to fight "false allegations" while simultaneously accepting responsibility for unspecified "mistakes", has done little to slow the investigation's momentum. The FBI's decision to execute search warrants at two locations in two days suggests federal prosecutors believe the electronic devices contain evidence material to the probe.
The FBI is not the only law enforcement body looking at Swalwell. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office confirmed it is also investigating after the former staffer alleged Swalwell assaulted her at a New York City hotel in 2024. Bragg called on "survivors and anyone with knowledge of these allegations to contact our Special Victims Division." The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has opened a separate investigation as well.
Attorney Arick Fudali, who represents accuser Lonna Drewes, welcomed the federal escalation. "We are encouraged to learn about the escalation of the FBI's investigation into the allegations against Eric Swalwell," Fudali said.
Swalwell is hardly the only Democratic figure to face scrutiny over conduct with staffers and associates. Sen. Ruben Gallego reportedly had sexual relationships with two congressional staffers over a decade-long span, raising questions about power dynamics within Democratic offices that party leadership has been slow to address.
The pattern extends further. The House Ethics Committee opened a probe into Rep. Jimmy Gomez over alleged sexual misconduct with a staffer, another case where formal accountability arrived only after the allegations became impossible to ignore.
Layered on top of the sexual misconduct probe is a national security complication. Newly declassified FBI files, released through President Trump's White House Transparency Task Force, reveal that Swalwell admitted to the bureau he had "physical relations" with a suspected Chinese intelligence operative known as Christine "Fang Fang" Fang. Swalwell described the encounters as having "occasionally hooked up" with her, National Review reported, citing the declassified records.
The FBI had at one point attempted to recruit Fang without her knowledge, according to the declassified files. The revelation that a sitting member of Congress, one who served on the House Intelligence Committee, carried on a sexual relationship with a person suspected of working for Chinese intelligence was a scandal in its own right when it first surfaced years ago. The declassified records now provide documentary confirmation from Swalwell's own statements to the FBI.
Democrats have faced a string of misconduct allegations involving elected officials and candidates in recent months. In Maine, Democrats fled Graham Platner's Senate bid after a rape allegation surfaced, a reversal that came only after the party had initially rallied behind his candidacy.
No arrest has been made. No formal charges have been filed. The specific criminal statutes under investigation have not been publicly disclosed. But the trajectory is unmistakable: the FBI executed search warrants at two locations in two days, the Manhattan DA's office has opened its own case, and the LA County Sheriff's Department is conducting a parallel inquiry.
The seizure of electronic devices, phone, laptop, and undisclosed additional evidence, points to investigators building a case that relies on digital communications, a common approach in sexual misconduct investigations where messages, photos, and location data can corroborate or contradict witness accounts.
Swalwell's political career is already over. He resigned from Congress. He abandoned his gubernatorial campaign. His one-time presidential aspirations are a distant memory. What remains is the question of criminal liability, and whether the evidence on those seized devices will move the investigation from search warrants to an indictment.
Separate cases involving Democratic figures and sexual misconduct scandals continue to surface with a regularity that suggests the party's internal accountability mechanisms are either broken or nonexistent.
For years, Swalwell built a career on television appearances and partisan grandstanding, lecturing the country about accountability and the rule of law. Now three law enforcement agencies are examining whether he practiced what he preached, and the FBI has his phone.