FBI Raids Eric Swalwell’s Home, Seizes Electronics in Connection with Sexual Assault Investigation
FBI agents seized electronic devices from former Representative Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.) at the San Francisco airport on Saturday and then raided his home in connection with an investigation into sexual assault allegations against him, according to several reports.
Read more What the Florida Primary Results Say About Antisemitism in the GOP
Federal authorities executed a search warrant at Swalwell’s home in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, law enforcement sources told CNN and the Associated Press.
The FBI declined to comment.
Swalwell resigned from Congress and suspended his campaign for California governor in April after a former staffer came forward with allegations that he had sexually assaulted her twice, including once at a hotel while he was in New York City for a charity gala in 2024.
Three other women then accused Swalwell of sexual misconduct as well. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department opened criminal investigations into Swalwell in response.
At the time, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg encouraged “survivors and anyone with knowledge of these allegations to contact our Special Victims Division.”
The reports that the FBI’s investigation into Swalwell is picking up steam comes days after the White House Transparency Task Force released FBI files indicating Swalwell previously admitted to having “physical relations” with suspected Chinese spy Christine Fang on a “handful of occasions,” providing confirmation of the public sphere’s longstanding suspicion that a sexual relationship had transpired.
Read more Former Fauci Adviser David Morens Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Hide Covid-Related Records
Swalwell had not previously publicly admitted to having a romantic or physical relationship with the woman, who also goes by “Fang Fang.”
In 2020, Axios reported that Fang, who had raised money for Swalwell’s campaign, had targeted American politicians with the aim of gaining “proximity to political power” with “campaign fundraising, extensive networking, personal charisma, and romantic or sexual relationships with at least two Midwestern mayors.”
The files released Monday include notes from a May 2015 interview that Swalwell did with the FBI in which he acknowledges the sexual nature of the relationship — something he has not previously done publicly.
He said that both of his intimate encounters with Fang took place at his apartment “probably before he was first elected to Congress in 2012.”
The disgraced California Democrat has said he cut ties with Fang in 2015 after intelligence officials briefed him and other members of Congress about Chinese efforts to infiltrate the legislative body. He was not accused of impropriety after a House ethics investigation into the situation. However, then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) moved to oust him from the House Intelligence Committee over the relationship in January 2023.
Read more Minnesota Man Arrested for Medicaid Fraud Scheme Previously Won State’s ‘Outstanding Refugee’ Award
