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AMERICANALMANAC (Charles McAdams) - FBI agents confront Eric Swalwell at San Francisco Airport, seize electronics in sexual misconduct probe Tue Sep 1 18:43:14 2026

Newly released security footage captures the moment FBI agents surrounded former congressman Eric Swalwell at a San Francisco Airport departure gate, executing a federal search warrant tied to sexual misconduct allegations from at least four women. Swalwell, 45, was waiting for a flight home to California on August 15 when multiple FBI agents approached him […] The post FBI agents confront Eric Swalwell at San Francisco Airport, seize electronics in sexual misconduct probe appeared first on American Almanac .

Newly released security footage captures the moment FBI agents surrounded former congressman Eric Swalwell at a San Francisco Airport departure gate, executing a federal search warrant tied to sexual misconduct allegations from at least four women. Swalwell, 45, was waiting for a flight home to California on August 15 when multiple FBI agents approached him at the gate. Dressed in a baseball cap, hoodie, and sneakers, the former seven-term Democrat was escorted away from the terminal, down an escalator, and through a hallway marked "restricted area" into a private room, the Daily Mail reported . There, agents seized his white Apple iPhone, an Apple MacBook Pro, a charging cable, and a wall charger, all catalogued in a warrant that had been filed two days earlier, on August 13. The warrant was filed under Section 242 of Title 18 of the United States Code, a federal statute that prohibits officials from using their authority to deprive someone of constitutional rights. How that law applies to Swalwell's case remains unclear, but its invocation signals that federal prosecutors are examining whether the former congressman leveraged his office in connection with the alleged misconduct. The confrontation at the airport was only the beginning. The following day, FBI agents arrived at Swalwell's residence in northeast Washington, D.C., armed with additional court-approved search warrants. Neither Swalwell nor his wife, Brittany Watts, 41, was home. The New York Post reported that agents seized additional undisclosed potential evidence from the home. The warrant from the airport encounter was signed by FBI Special Agent Kyle R. Biebesheimer, who certified the inventory under penalty of perjury. Four women, multiple agencies, and a congressman who resigned Swalwell's political career collapsed months before the FBI showed up at his gate. He resigned from Congress in April after a former staffer alleged he raped her on two separate occasions, once when she worked in his office and again at a New York City hotel during a 2024 charity gala. The woman told CNN she woke up in Swalwell's hotel bed to find him having sex with her after a night of heavy drinking. In her own words, the former staffer described the earlier encounter bluntly: "I was pushing him off of me, saying no. He didn't stop." Three additional women later came forward with their own allegations. One woman alleged Swalwell drugged and raped her in 2018. Others accused him of sending unsolicited explicit images. Lonna Drewes spoke publicly at a press conference alleging Swalwell sexually assaulted her. Swalwell has denied all the allegations. He called one accusation "fake" and said he would fight it, but he also acknowledged making "mistakes in judgment" and apologized to his wife. That apology may not have been enough to save his marriage. In May, the Daily Mail published exclusive photographs of Watts stepping out of the couple's D.C. residence without her wedding ring, nine years into the marriage. A family friend spoke to the outlet at the time. "Eric has been accused of horrible things. How do you live with that?" Swalwell also dropped out of the California governor's race as the allegations mounted. The man who once sat on the House Intelligence Committee and ran for president has kept a low profile since. Manhattan DA and LA County Sheriff pile on with their own investigations The FBI is not the only agency pursuing Swalwell. The Manhattan District Attorney's office, led by Alvin Bragg, confirmed it opened its own investigation in April after the former staffer alleged Swalwell raped her at the New York City hotel. National Review noted 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 also investigating. The Department of Justice launched its own federal probe in April. Both the DOJ and the FBI declined to comment on the case. An attorney for Swalwell was contacted for comment but no response was reported. Swalwell is hardly the only member of Congress to face serious misconduct allegations in recent months. Rep. Jimmy Gomez has faced a sexual assault accusation of his own, part of a broader pattern of misconduct claims that have rattled Capitol Hill. Arick Fudali, an attorney representing accuser Lonna Drewes, welcomed the FBI's escalation. He told Newsmax : "We are encouraged to learn about the escalation of the FBI's investigation into the allegations against Eric Swalwell." Declassified records confirm Swalwell's ties to a suspected Chinese spy Layered on top of the sexual misconduct allegations is a separate but politically damaging revelation. The White House Transparency Task Force released declassified FBI records showing that Swalwell admitted during a May 2015 interview that he had a physical relationship with Christine Fang, the suspected Chinese intelligence operative known as "Fang Fang." Swalwell told the FBI he had "occasionally hooked up" with her, a relationship he had never previously acknowledged publicly. Fang spent years cultivating relationships with rising California Democrats. She helped bundle donations for Swalwell's 2014 re-election campaign and placed an intern in his congressional office. The declassified documents added a national security dimension to a career already in free fall over the misconduct allegations. The case against Swalwell is part of a growing reckoning over misconduct on Capitol Hill. The House Ethics Committee recently recommended censure of Rep. Chuck Edwards over sexual harassment findings, and other members have faced their own ethics investigations in the same period. Key questions the footage does not answer The security footage released by the Daily Mail shows Swalwell cooperating with agents. Sources described as "well-placed" said he did not resist. But the footage does not show an arrest, and no charges have been filed publicly. The specific items seized from his D.C. residence remain undisclosed. How Section 242, a statute typically used against law enforcement officers who abuse their authority, applies to a sitting or former congressman has not been explained by prosecutors. That legal question could shape the direction of the entire case. Meanwhile, the institutional response to misconduct in Congress continues to evolve. A former Hill staffer recently launched an anonymous review platform allowing congressional aides to grade their bosses, a direct response to the culture that allowed these allegations to accumulate for years before anyone acted. Multiple law enforcement agencies across multiple jurisdictions are now investigating the same man. The DOJ, the FBI, the Manhattan DA, and the LA County Sheriff's Department have all opened probes. Swalwell's electronic devices are in federal hands. And the broader pattern of misconduct investigations on Capitol Hill shows no sign of slowing down. Eric Swalwell spent years lecturing the country about accountability from his seat on the Intelligence Committee. Now he is the one being investigated, by four agencies, across three jurisdictions, with at least four accusers on the record. Accountability, it turns out, is easier to demand than to face. The post FBI agents confront Eric Swalwell at San Francisco Airport, seize electronics in sexual misconduct probe appeared first on American Almanac .