Eric Swalwell’s ‘double life’: From his fight against Trump to being accused of rape

Lonna Drewes recounts how she inexplicably froze upon arriving at the hotel room where then-Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell was staying. The model had only had one glass of wine during a dinner in Los Angeles, California, where she was seeking to solidify the support of a strategic ally for her burgeoning political career. She believes Swalwell slipped a substance into her drink to rape her without her resisting. The incident occurred in 2018.

“I can’t believe that he felt so cavalier that he would just drug me and then rape me and then choke me. I couldn’t move my arms. So, he was on top of me choking me, and all I could do was just watch,” she recalled of that dark episode in her life in an interview with CNN.

Drewes’ testimony adds to those of other women who accuse Swalwell of sexual assault, ranging from receiving unsolicited nude photos to graphic descriptions of horrific rapes. The Democrat’s downfall was imminent: first, he resigned from his campaign for governor of California, and then from his seat in Congress. He still faces investigations by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Nevertheless, he continues to deny the allegations against him and warns that he will take legal action against those who “orchestrated” what he calls a campaign to remove him from the race to succeed Gavin Newsom.

“These accusations are false, fabricated, and deeply offensive — a calculated and transparent political hit job designed to destroy the reputation of a man who has spent twenty years in public service,” Sara Azari, the former legislator’s attorney, said in a statement. “The timing, nature, and coordinated rollout of these vile and heinous allegations speak for themselves. This is neither about justice, nor the truth. This is a ruthless and shameless attempt to smear Congressman Swalwell.”

Drewes recounted at a press conference on Tuesday that she met with Swalwell three times and considered him a friend. During their third meeting, he told her he needed to return to his hotel room to retrieve something he had forgotten. This was a pretext to lure her to the location where he raped her, according to her account. “I woke up at four o’clock in the morning. He was next to me (in the hotel room). And just I left,” she said. For nearly eight years, she considered going to the authorities, but refrained, she said, because of her attacker’s political influence.

“When I knew he was running for governor, I was like, ‘God, this can’t happen’… I’d been waiting for someone else to come forward,” Drewes told CNN. Her wait ended last Friday when the first accusers came forward, including a former Swalwell employee who claims she was sexually assaulted by the former congressman in New York City in 2024. “My motivation was for other girls [to speak out]. I know I can’t be the only one… For a long while I’ve wanted to say something,” Drewes added.

Before Drewes’ testimony became public, Swalwell addressed the issue in a video posted on social media. “They never happened,” he asserted regarding the allegations that were beginning to surface. “You know who I am,” he emphasized in a portion of his statement directed at his supporters, attempting to salvage his gubernatorial campaign and retain his seat. “As a prosecutor, I went to court... particularly on behalf of victims of sexual abuse.”

At Tuesday’s press conference, Lisa Bloom, Drewes’ lawyer, called the video “just blather and spin.”

A meteoric career

Before Swalwell fell from grace, he had become a politician with a promising future. His political campaign described him as someone who “was raised by Republicans in Dublin, California,” only to “switch sides,” convinced that “the Democrats had better ideas.”

The son of a police officer and an entrepreneur, he was able to enroll at the University of Maryland School of Law on an athletic scholarship, becoming the first in his family to graduate. His first professional job was in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. At the age of 29, he became a city councilman in his hometown. Three years later, in 2013, his career took off, reaching new heights: he defeated Congressman Pete Stark, the longest-serving member of the California delegation and a 20-term congressman. This marked the arrival of a rising star at the Capitol, which was controlled by Republicans at the time. Barack Obama was president of the country.

“He became one of the Democrats’ favorite talking heads… And he was in green rooms and hobnobbing with famous people,” a former staffer was quoted as saying by The Washington Post in an article describing how Swalwell made his way into Congress thanks to his close relationship with prominent figures in the Democratic Party and by taking shots at Donald Trump.

At one of the peaks of his career, in 2020, he was a presidential pre-candidate and participated in a debate in Miami in which he asked Joe Biden to “pass the torch,” something that eventually came to pass.

He had gained recognition within his institution, such as leading the congressional investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and participating in both impeachment trials against Trump. He recounts anecdotes about what happened behind the scenes in the failed attempt to remove the Republican magnate from the White House in his book, Endgame.

“The fiercest face of the Democratic resistance.” That’s how he describes himself on his gubernatorial campaign website, which is still active. His main campaign promise was “to keep the worst president in history out of our homes, out of our streets, and out of our lives […] The President has militarized our streets, canceled cancer research, zeroed out clean energy climate projects, and is chasing our immigrant friends and neighbors through their workplaces, kids’ schools, and houses of worship.”

“A lot of candidates talk about taking on Trump. I’m taking him on in real time,” he asserted. “I’m leading the Democrats’ effort in the House to investigate January 6,” he added, referring to the mob of Trump supporters who, at the end of his first term, stormed the Capitol to try to stop the certification of Biden’s election victory.

Shortly before the San Francisco Chronicle published a report on the allegations made by three whistleblowers, Swalwell stated that he feared the federal government would fabricate criminal charges against him to prevent him from governing one of the Democratic Party’s key strongholds. “We have the opportunity to write the history of a new California, not Donald Trump,” he said in an interview on The Joy Reid Show podcast.

In November, he threw his hat into the ring of the tight race for governor of California and almost immediately took the lead. Unions and prominent Democrats threw their support behind him. Now, however, he is being accused of leading a “double life” and of practically deceiving them. “That is absolutely false,” responded Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker Emerita of the House of Representatives, when asked if she was aware of the accusations during a forum at George Washington University.

As the latest political figure caught in the eye of the storm due to allegations of sexual assault, his name hangs in the air amid the shock of those who read the accounts of his accusers and mockery on social media. “Release Eric Swalwell’s files,” someone wrote in the comments on the Facebook post in which he denied all the accusations.

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