Eric Swalwell
Introduction
Eric Swalwell is a former six-term California congressman and 2026 Democratic gubernatorial front-runner who resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives on April 13, 2026, days after multiple women accused him of sexual assault and misconduct β allegations he denies and that remain unadjudicated. Six months later the case has grown into an active federal criminal investigation: in August, FBI agents met his plane at San Francisco International Airport and seized his cellphone and laptop under a warrant citing a federal civil-rights statute, and on October 27, 2026, the FBI searched the Beverly Hills mansion of his former top benefactor, Stephen Cloobeck, in connection with the probe .
Background Information
Swalwell was born on November 16, 1980, in Sac City, Iowa, and raised in the East Bay, where his father served as Dublin’s police chief. He worked as an Alameda County deputy district attorney and a Dublin City Council member before upsetting 20-term incumbent Pete Stark in 2012, then won re-election six times representing California’s 15th and later 14th districts. He ran briefly for the 2020 presidential nomination, served as an impeachment manager after January 6, and built his national profile as one of Donald Trump’s most vocal antagonists β a stance that, per the Bay Area News Group’s accounting, made him a DOJ investigation target alongside Senator Adam Schiff, James Comey, and Letitia James in Trump’s second term. In November 2025 he launched his campaign for California governor to succeed the term-limited Gavin Newsom, entering the race as a leading candidate .
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Resigned, denies wrongdoing β under federal investigation, not charged. Swalwell resigned from Congress in April 2026 after multiple women accused him of sexual assault and misconduct; he continues to deny any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crime. The FBI seized his devices in August under a civil-rights-statute warrant and searched a top donor’s Beverly Hills mansion in October as the criminal investigation continues. He is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty .
On April 10, 2026, the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN published accounts from multiple women accusing Swalwell of sexual assault and misconduct. One former staffer told the Chronicle he raped her in 2019 in Pleasanton, while she was his employee and too intoxicated to consent, and again in 2024 in New York after she had left his office; The Post’s later accounting adds a woman who says he drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2018 and two others who say he sent unsolicited images of his genitals. Swalwell has denied wrongdoing throughout, and no charge has ever been filed against him over the allegations .
The political collapse took three days. High-level campaign staffers β including campaign chair Jimmy Gomez β resigned in advance of the reports; endorser after endorser, from Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff to labor organizations, rescinded their backing or told him to quit the race. On April 11, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said his office was investigating Swalwell for alleged sexual assault; Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson’s office said it was “evaluating” the allegations, and the House Ethics Committee opened its own inquiry into whether he had misconduct with employees. On April 12 he suspended his gubernatorial campaign β “my fight, not a campaign’s,” he said β and on April 13, facing a prospective expulsion vote, he resigned his seat .
The investigation outlived his career. In August 2026, FBI agents surrounded Swalwell as he deboarded a plane at San Francisco International Airport and seized his cellphone and laptop as part of a federal criminal investigation; agents executed additional warrants the following day at his Washington, D.C., home. The seizure warrant cited a federal civil-rights statute used to prosecute officials who abuse government power β suggesting, per The Post, that investigators may suspect he used his official role against the women who accused him. Fox News reported he was not arrested or detained .
On October 27, 2026, the FBI searched a Beverly Hills mansion in connection with the Swalwell investigation, per two people familiar with the probe β the home of Stephen Cloobeck, on Roxbury Drive near Benedict Canyon Drive, in a dawn operation around 7 a.m. A senior law-enforcement official told The Post the raid is linked to a sex worker. Cloobeck, a billionaire who gave more than $1 million to Swalwell’s gubernatorial effort, lent him his mansion β Swalwell even filmed his video response to the misconduct allegations from inside it β then ejected him when the allegations surfaced: “I am no longer associated with a man that takes advantage of women,” Cloobeck said. “I support women’s rights.”
Public Reaction and Consequences
The resignation drew reactions across the spectrum in a week Mother Jones framed as a House-wide reckoning: Tony Gonzales announced his retirement over misconduct allegations the same week, and Cory Mills faced expulsion calls, convergences the outlet said had “national implications” in a narrowly held chamber. Former staffers publicly called on Swalwell to resign, describing the lead accusation as the account of “a young woman who trusted her employer, who was targeted and exploited by someone in a position of power over her,” and Representative Sam Liccardo said the resignation “provides some relief and vindication to survivors” while asking why “so many powerful people looked the other way.” Six months on, the reaction to the mansion raid has been quieter but pointed β Cloobeck’s disavowal, and an FBI that has said nothing publicly: CNN reported it reached out to the FBI and a lawyer for Swalwell for comment .
Current Status
As of October 27, 2026, Swalwell remains out of elected office, denies wrongdoing, and has not been charged. The federal criminal investigation is active β no arrests have been reported at any stage β and it runs alongside the Manhattan district attorney’s inquiry opened by Alvin Bragg in April, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s criminal investigation, and Alameda County’s continuing evaluation. The FBI’s October 27 search of Cloobeck’s Beverly Hills mansion and the August seizure of Swalwell’s devices under the civil-rights statute are the case’s public markers so far. Every allegation remains unadjudicated, and Swalwell is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty
Impact on Their Career/Life
The allegations ended a congressional career of more than a decade and a leading gubernatorial bid in a matter of days, and the six months since have converted a political fall into a criminal-law problem: a civil-rights-statute warrant for his devices, a search of his D.C. home, and a raid that reached the mansion of the donor who once bankrolled his ambitions. For Swalwell β who entered Congress by toppling a 20-term incumbent and built a national brand as Trump’s chief antagonist, later drawing DOJ scrutiny alongside Schiff and Comey β the case now defines a post-congressional life spent entirely outside elected office, under investigation rather than in office
Sources
- “Eric Swalwell FBI investigation leads to Beverly Hills mansion raid” β New York Post: source
- “FBI searches Beverly Hills mansion tied to former Rep. Eric Swalwell” β CNN: source
- “FBI serves search warrants tied to Eric Swalwell investigation at Beverly Hills mansion belonging to Stephen Cloobeck” β ABC7 Los Angeles: source
- “FBI raids Beverly Hills mansion in Eric Swalwell misconduct probe” β Fox News: source
- “East Bay Congressman Eric Swalwell resigns from office amid burgeoning sex assault claims” β The Mercury News: source
- “Eric Swalwell” β Wikipedia: source
- “Two Congressmen Resigned After Accusations of Misconduct Against Women” β Mother Jones: source