FBI searches former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s home, seizes his electronic devices

The FBI searched former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s Washington, D.C., home and seized his electronic devices over the weekend in connection with an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against him, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The FBI stopped Swalwell at the San Francisco airport Saturday evening and took his electronic devices as part of the execution of a search warrant, the person said. According to a copy of the search warrant obtained by NBC News, investigators seized an iPhone and a MacBook Pro computer.

Agents searched his home in Washington the next day, the person said, adding that both actions are related to an investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations against Swalwell.

An attorney for Swalwell did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Swalwell did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He has previously denied allegations of criminal wrongdoing.

The FBI declined to comment.

Swalwell, a Democrat, resigned his California seat in April in the wake of multiple sexual misconduct allegations.

The allegations first surfaced when the San Francisco Chronicle published an article April 10 about a former Swalwell aide who said he had twice sexually assaulted her when she was too intoxicated to consent.

The woman, who worked for Swalwell, who is married, from 2019 to 2021, told the paper the encounters happened in 2019 and 2024. A source familiar with the woman’s account later confirmed to NBC News that the Chronicle’s reporting was accurate.

The Chronicle article was followed a short time later by a CNN report on sexual misconduct allegations against Swalwell from four women, including one whose story matched details about the woman in the Chronicle article. One of the three others, Democratic influencer Ally Sammarco, said Swalwell sent her unsolicited photos of his penis. Sammarco confirmed her account to NBC News.

Swalwell denied the accusations published by the Chronicle and CNN in a video on social media on April 10, saying, “These allegations of sexual assault are flat false.”

“They did not happen. They have never happened. And I will fight them with everything I have,” he said at the time.

Swalwell was hit with more allegations the day he resigned from model Lonna Drewes, who accused him at a news conference of having drugged, raped and choked her in a California hotel room in 2018.

She filed a police report with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after the news conference, saying that she had not come forward earlier out of “fear — fear of his political power, his background as an attorney and his family law enforcement ties” — but that she now felt empowered by the bravery of Swalwell’s other accusers.

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Swalwell denied Drewes’ allegations, as well.

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In April, federal law enforcement reached out to at least one woman who has spoken publicly about sexual misconduct allegations against Swalwell, a source familiar with the interaction said.

State investigators in California and New York were also both investigating the accusations, since some of the conduct was alleged to have happened in both states.

Arick Fudali, an attorney for Drewes, told NBC News that his client has not spoken to the FBI but that “we are encouraged to learn about the escalation in their apparent investigation into the allegations against Eric Swalwell.”

He said Drewes has spoken with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department at least once and provided follow-up information.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined comment on the federal searches.

Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro posted on social media in April that she was looking into Swalwell’s conduct in the district.

“I have created a tip line to receive information regarding alleged sexual or inappropriate conduct in D.C. by Congressman Eric Swalwell,” she wrote April 15 on X.

“Five women have made serious allegations against Congressman Eric Swalwell. I encourage anyone with credible information or complaints involving similar conduct in the District of Columbia to contact my office’s hotline,” Pirro added in a separate post.

FBI Director Kash Patel posted a similar message on X seeking information about Swalwell.

Swalwell had served in Congress since 2013 and was one of the impeachment managers in President Donald Trump’s 2021 impeachment on allegations that he incited the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. The Senate later acquitted Trump.