Former Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., is facing a new sexual assault allegation from a woman who said he drugged, raped and choked her in a California hotel room in 2018.
"He raped me, and he choked me. And while he was choking me, I lost consciousness," the woman, Lonna Drewes, said Tuesday at a press conference with her attorneys about the alleged attack. "I thought I died."
An attorney for Swalwell, who resigned from Congress on Tuesday afternoon, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He has previously admitted to making “mistakes” but has called accusations of sexual assault “flat false.”
Drewes said she had contact with Swalwell on a few separate occasions and that the first two encounters were friendly. "He offered me connections to further my software company," she said.
"I knew he was married at the time and his wife was pregnant," and thought "he was my friend," she said.
On the third encounter, she said she believes he "drugged my drink."
Drewes said after she had a glass of wine, Swalwell lured her to his hotel room by telling her he needed to get some paperwork before they went to a political event. By the time she reached the room, she said she was "incapacitated."
She said that "I couldn't move my arms or my body" and that's when Swalwell attacked her.
“I would never have engaged in a consensual sexual encounter with Eric Swalwell,” she said, noting that she had a boyfriend at the time and have "never cheated in my life."
The encounter had "a profound impact on my mental health," she said. "I did not want to live anymore."
She said she did not have any contact with Swalwell afterwards. She did not file a police report at the time, but that she "disclosed the assault to the people closest to me. I also recorded these events in my handwritten calendar. The assault and its impact were later documented during my therapy sessions at a sexual assault center in Connecticut."
Drewes' attorney, Lisa Bloom, said they would be “immediately” filing a report in Los Angeles.
"Lonna is committed to fully cooperating with law enforcement," she said.
NBC News also reached out to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office and the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office for comment.
Drewes said she didn't come forward earlier out of " fear - fear of his political power, his background as an attorney, and his family law enforcement ties."
Swalwell has faced a growing number of sexual misconduct allegations in recent days.
Swalwell, who's served in the House since 2013, was a leading candidate in the race for California governor until late last week, when several women, including a former staffer, made allegations against him in the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN.
The former staffer alleged Swalwell twice sexually assaulted her when she was too intoxicated to consent.
Two other women alleged he sent them unsolicited photos or videos of his penis. One woman said Swalwell kissed her without her consent in public.
Ally Sammarco, one of the women in CNN’s report, confirmed her account of her experience to NBC News. NBC News has not independently corroborated the other women’s accounts.
On Saturday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said that it was opening an investigation into one of the sexual assault allegations against Swalwell, which allegedly took place in New York.
In his statement announcing his resignation from Congress on Monday, Swalwell apologized to his family for “mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past,” but added “will fight the serious, false allegation made against me."
Drewes said Tuesday, “I stand with the other women who’ve come forward.”
