FBI agents surround Eric Swalwell at San Francisco airport, seize phone and laptop in federal probe

Federal agents served former Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell with a search warrant at San Francisco International Airport and seized his electronic devices as part of a criminal investigation tied to sexual misconduct allegations from multiple women.

Swalwell had just stepped off a plane on the evening of Aug. 15 when FBI agents met him at the gate. They escorted the former seven-term California Democrat through the terminal, past an escalator, down a hallway marked "restricted area," and into a closed room. By approximately 8:25 p.m., agents had served him with a federal search warrant and walked out with his white Apple iPhone, along with its charging cable and wall adapter, and an Apple MacBook Pro. Swalwell was not arrested. He appeared calm and cooperative throughout the encounter, and agents left him with a copy of the warrant and an inventory of everything they took.

The warrant cited a federal civil-rights statute that applies to public officials who abuse their government power, a detail that points directly at whether Swalwell used his position to silence women who accused him of sexual misconduct. The New York Post exclusively obtained surveillance footage of the airport encounter, showing the former congressman in casual clothes, wearing a backpack and dragging a rolling bag as agents flanked him through the terminal.

Warrants hit Swalwell's D.C. home the next day

The airport seizure was not the end of it. Agents executed additional search warrants at Swalwell's Washington, D.C., home the following day, where they seized other potential evidence, a source previously told the Post. The back-to-back searches across two coasts signal the breadth of the federal investigation and the seriousness with which the Justice Department is treating the case.

The Department of Justice opened its investigation into Swalwell in April, the same month his political career collapsed. He resigned from Congress on April 14 and ended his campaign for California governor amid a cascade of sexual misconduct allegations. Before his resignation, Swalwell faced a looming House Ethics Committee investigation into alleged misconduct and sexual assault involving an employee under his supervision. He is also the subject of a separate state ethics investigation.

Swalwell has denied wrongdoing. His lawyer sent a letter to individuals accusing the then-congressman of "nonconsensual sexual encounters," warning that Swalwell could sue them for defamation. He did not respond to requests for comment about the airport encounter.

At least four women have accused Swalwell of sexual misconduct

The accusations against Swalwell are not abstract. A former staffer accused him of raping her when she was too intoxicated to consent, as the San Francisco Chronicle first reported. The Washington Examiner reported the former staffer alleged Swalwell raped her on two occasions, in 2019 and 2024. A second woman accused him of drugging and sexually assaulting her in 2018. Two additional women alleged Swalwell sent them unsolicited images of his genitals.

Attorney Arick Fudali, who represents accuser Lonna Drewes, welcomed the federal escalation. He told the AP:

"We are encouraged to learn about the escalation of the FBI's investigation into the allegations against Eric Swalwell."

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg confirmed his office is also investigating, and National Review reported that Bragg encouraged "survivors and anyone with knowledge of these allegations to contact our Special Victims Division." The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is investigating as well, making this a multi-jurisdictional effort spanning federal, state, and local law enforcement.

Swalwell's fall from grace is not the only recent case of a once-rising Democratic figure facing law enforcement scrutiny. But the scope of the allegations against him, and the federal government's willingness to execute search warrants on a former member of Congress, puts this case in a category of its own.

Declassified records add a second front: the Chinese spy connection

The sexual misconduct investigation is not the only cloud over Swalwell's record. Newly released FBI files, declassified through the White House Transparency Task Force, reveal that Swalwell admitted in a 2015 interview to having a physical relationship with suspected Chinese intelligence operative Christine Fang. Newsmax reported that Swalwell told the FBI he "occasionally hooked up" with Fang, a characterization he had never publicly acknowledged before the files surfaced.

Swalwell had previously maintained public silence on the nature of his relationship with Fang, who was identified by U.S. intelligence as a suspected spy who targeted American politicians. The declassified records directly contradict that posture and raise fresh questions about what Swalwell disclosed, and what he concealed, during his years on Capitol Hill.

The pattern of a Democratic officeholder facing serious allegations while the party's leadership looks the other way is not new. Rape allegations have upended Democratic campaigns before, and the institutional response has often been slow, reluctant, or absent until the facts become impossible to ignore.

Swalwell acknowledged 'mistakes in judgment' but called one accusation 'fake'

Breitbart reported that Swalwell denied one accusation of assault as "fake," saying he would fight it, but acknowledged "mistakes in judgment." That is the closest the former congressman has come to any concession, and it falls far short of addressing the full range of allegations from four women, the federal civil-rights statute cited in the warrant, or the newly surfaced admissions about a suspected foreign spy.

Swalwell served seven terms in Congress representing California, previously worked as a prosecutor and in local government, and briefly sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. He was, until this spring, a fixture of cable news panels and a vocal critic of Republican officials. Now he is the subject of overlapping federal, state, and local investigations, and the FBI has his phone.

Other Democratic officeholders have faced criminal charges in recent years, but few have seen federal agents execute search warrants at both an airport gate and their home within a 24-hour span. The speed and coordination of the FBI's action suggest investigators believe Swalwell's devices hold evidence directly relevant to the civil-rights statute cited in the warrant.

Open questions the feds have not answered

Major gaps remain. The specific federal civil-rights statute cited in the warrant has not been publicly identified by name. The issuing court and the judge who signed the warrant are unknown. The "other potential evidence" seized at Swalwell's D.C. home has not been described. And the current status of the DOJ investigation, the House Ethics Committee inquiry, and the state ethics probe all remain unclear.

What is clear is that the Justice Department moved from opening an investigation in April to executing multi-site search warrants by mid-August, a timeline that suggests prosecutors gathered enough evidence to persuade a federal judge, in a matter of months, that Swalwell's personal devices likely contained proof of a crime. Political figures are not above the law, and the FBI's willingness to confront a former congressman at an airport gate in front of other travelers makes that point without ambiguity.

Swalwell spent years lecturing the country about accountability. The FBI just showed up at his gate to see if he meant it.