Overview
- FBI agents stopped Swalwell at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday and seized his cellphone and other electronics under a search warrant, sources said, and agents executed a second warrant at his Washington, D.C., home the following day.
- Law enforcement officials described the actions as part of an active federal criminal probe tied to public allegations that several women made this spring accusing Swalwell of sexual misconduct and assault.
- Swalwell was briefly detained and released during the airport encounter, his lawyers deny criminal wrongdoing, and his team says he cooperated with agents during the searches.
- State and local offices in New York and Los Angeles have separate open investigations into related allegations, and prosecutors could now coordinate evidence or charging decisions with the federal inquiry; the Justice Department and FBI declined to comment on the probe.
- The searches followed the White House’s recent release of declassified FBI files about Swalwell’s past contacts with a suspected Chinese operative, and one outlet has reported—based on limited sourcing—that a civil‑rights statute was cited in a warrant, a detail not confirmed by federal authorities.