FBI Seizes Eric Swalwell's Phone at SFO, Searches His D.C. Home in Sexual Misconduct Probe

FBI agents were waiting for Eric Swalwell when he landed at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday. They handed him a search warrant and took his cell phone and other electronic devices, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter cited by NBC News, Fox News, the Daily Mail and TMZ.

Swalwell cooperated, sources told the Daily Mail. He was not arrested or detained, Fox News Digital reported.

The next day, federal agents showed up at Swalwell's home in Northeast Washington, D.C. with additional court-approved warrants. Neither Swalwell nor his wife, Brittany Watts, was there. Agents seized more devices and unspecified potential evidence, according to the Daily Mail and TMZ.

Both searches are tied to the federal criminal investigation into sexual misconduct and assault allegations that drove Swalwell out of the California governor's race and out of Congress in April, according to NBC News, the Los Angeles Times, Fox News and the Daily Mail. The Justice Department opened its investigation in April. The Los Angeles Times reports federal prosecutors are pursuing the case under civil rights law, with separate investigations also underway by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

At least four women, and by some counts five, have accused Swalwell of sexual misconduct or assault. The allegations first surfaced when the San Francisco Chronicle reported on April 10 that a former Swalwell staffer said he sexually assaulted her twice, in 2019 and 2024, when she was too intoxicated to consent. She was 21 when hired by his office in 2019, according to the Chronicle's reporting confirmed by NBC News through a source familiar with her account.

CNN followed with a report detailing allegations from four women total, including Democratic influencer Ally Sammarco, who said Swalwell sent her unsolicited photos of his penis. Sammarco confirmed that account to NBC News directly.

On the day he resigned, model Lonna Drewes held a press conference accusing Swalwell of drugging, raping and choking her in a Beverly Hills hotel room in 2018. "He raped me and he choked me and while he was choking me I lost consciousness and I thought I died," Drewes said, according to the Los Angeles Times. She later filed a police report with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, saying she stayed silent earlier out of fear of Swalwell's "political power, his background as an attorney and his family law enforcement ties."

Swalwell's attorney, Sara Azari, disputed Drewes' account at the time, telling reporters, "Two adults consenting, which is our position, is not against the law." Swalwell has consistently denied the sexual assault allegations. In an April 10 video, he said, "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." In his resignation statement, he wrote he would fight the "serious false allegations" but added, "I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make," and he has apologized to his wife for what he described as mistakes in judgment. That distinction, denying the criminal allegations while acknowledging some personal failing, is Swalwell's consistent position and it hasn't changed since April.

Neither Swalwell nor an attorney for him responded to requests for comment from NBC News or Fox News Digital about the weekend seizures. The FBI declined to comment to NBC News.

Days before the airport search, the White House's Government Transparency Task Force declassified FBI records detailing Swalwell's relationship with Christine "Fang Fang" Fang, a suspected Chinese intelligence operative. According to the records reported by Fox News and the Daily Mail, Swalwell told FBI agents he had "physical relations" with Fang on multiple occasions, with the last encounter in March 2015. The Daily Mail reports Fang helped bundle donations for Swalwell's 2014 re-election campaign and placed an intern in his congressional office. Swalwell has not responded publicly to that document release, according to the Daily Wire.

The Fang matter is a separate counterintelligence issue from the sexual misconduct investigation now driving the device seizures. No charges have been filed against Swalwell in either matter. The Justice Department has not announced an indictment, and Swalwell has not been arrested.

Agents seized Swalwell's phone at SFO and searched his D.C. home over the same weekend using court-approved warrants, confirmed across NBC News, Fox News, the Daily Mail, TMZ and the Los Angeles Times. What specifically investigators were looking for on those devices or what they found remains unclear. The timing of the Fang documents release and the misconduct probe could suggest a connection, though the two investigations are legally distinct: one a counterintelligence matter from over a decade ago, the other a criminal sexual assault probe opened this year. No source ties them together as a single legal proceeding.

The investigation continues without a public timeline. Swalwell has not been charged with a crime. The next milestone, an indictment, a grand jury action, or a formal declination, has not been reported by any outlet as of this weekend's searches.