Federal agents confronted former Rep. Eric Swalwell at San Francisco International Airport and seized his electronic devices under a search warrant, a dramatic escalation in a federal criminal investigation tied to multiple sexual misconduct allegations against the once-prominent California Democrat.
Agents served Swalwell with the warrant Saturday evening as he arrived in California, taking his iPhone, MacBook Pro, charging cable, and wall adapter at 8:25 p.m., the New York Post reported. Swalwell, 45, cooperated with investigators during the encounter. The following day, agents executed additional court-approved search warrants at his Washington, D.C., residence and seized further potential evidence. Neither Swalwell nor his wife, Brittany Watts, was at the home when agents arrived Sunday.
The device seizures mark the most aggressive federal step yet in an investigation that has already ended Swalwell's congressional career and upended California's governor's race. At least four women, and possibly five, have publicly accused Swalwell of sexual misconduct. One former staffer has alleged that Swalwell raped her on two separate occasions, in 2019 and 2024, when she was too intoxicated to consent. The Department of Justice opened its investigation in April, and Swalwell also faces separate scrutiny from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Swalwell left Congress in April after the allegations were reported in detail. He had been running for governor of California and, by several accounts, was pulling ahead in the race before his resignation forced him out. At the time of his departure, Fox News reported that Swalwell released a statement acknowledging some personal failures while denying the most serious charges:
"I will fight the serious false allegations made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make."
That carefully worded statement left open the question of which allegations Swalwell considers false and which "mistakes" he admits to. Months later, federal agents answered with search warrants.
His exit reshuffled California's gubernatorial contest. Xavier Becerra, a Democrat who had been polling near the bottom of the field, catapulted to the top after Swalwell dropped out. Becerra will face Republican Steve Hilton in the November general election.
The federal probe is not the only investigation closing in. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office opened its own inquiry into the allegations, and National Review reported that DA Alvin Bragg publicly encouraged cooperation from potential witnesses:
"Survivors and anyone with knowledge of these allegations to contact our Special Victims Division."
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has also opened an investigation prompted by the series of accusations. Two of the women who publicly discussed the allegations told CNN they had spoken with the FBI. It remains unclear whether Swalwell is the formal target of the federal investigation or a subject of a related inquiry.
The FBI declined to comment on the matter, Just The News reported. Swalwell's legal representatives have not issued a public statement in response to the weekend searches.
The sexual misconduct investigation is not the only cloud over Swalwell's record. On Monday, the White House declassified and released 97 pages of records from the FBI's long-running investigation into Swalwell's association with Christine Fang, a suspected Chinese intelligence operative. The declassified FBI files revealed that Swalwell admitted during a 2015 interview to having a physical relationship with Fang on "a handful of occasions." Much of the information in the documents had already been reported publicly, but Swalwell had never publicly acknowledged the sexual nature of the relationship before the files surfaced.
Swalwell was never charged with a crime stemming from the Fang investigation. But the timing of the declassification, days after federal agents took his devices, added another layer of scrutiny to a week that saw his legal exposure widen on multiple fronts. The Washington Examiner previously reported on efforts by Patel to release the classified Fang files.
Swalwell had built his congressional career as one of President Donald Trump's most vocal antagonists, serving on the House Intelligence Committee and positioning himself as a fierce critic of Republican governance. That a former member of that committee now faces a federal criminal investigation involving search warrants, device seizures, and allegations from multiple women represents a sharp reversal.
The pattern of federal investigators moving aggressively against prominent political figures has not been limited to Swalwell. A former Pennsylvania Democratic lawmaker was recently charged with federal child pornography offenses after an FBI investigation, and the bureau has also conducted raids on organizations with Democratic ties, including an Ohio voter group's headquarters in a separate fraud investigation.
Breitbart noted that Swalwell has maintained his innocence on all allegations while cooperating with agents during the airport encounter. But the scope of the investigations now surrounding him is difficult to square with a simple misunderstanding. A federal probe backed by court-approved search warrants. A Manhattan DA inquiry. A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department investigation. At least four women, and by some counts five, making public accusations. And 97 pages of declassified records documenting an admitted relationship with a suspected foreign intelligence asset.
Swalwell has three children with Watts. He resigned from Congress and abandoned his gubernatorial campaign. He has not spoken publicly since the weekend searches.
In California's broader political landscape, federal scrutiny of Democratic-aligned officials has become a recurring theme. A Gavin Newsom appointee was revealed to have secretly worn an FBI wire and recorded conversations across Sacramento's political class, another sign that federal investigators are not looking away from misconduct in the state's ruling party.
Swalwell spent years lecturing the country about accountability in government. Federal agents, it appears, took him at his word.
