Former Rep. Eric Swalwell was photographed outside his Washington, D.C., home climbing into a black SUV as Los Angeles prosecutors confirmed they are reviewing a sexual assault case against him.
Just before 9 p.m. on Wednesday, the 45-year-old ex-congressman appeared near the $1.2 million family property he once shared with his wife and three children. He wore a cap and glasses. A black SUV waited.
California Post photographers recorded him jiggling the locked door handles, leaning into the windows, and muttering to the driver before the door opened. He got in and slammed it shut. The driver asked twice what was going on, then said he only wanted to make sure he was set. Swalwell declined to answer questions on the scene.
On Thursday the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office confirmed it is reviewing a criminal case involving Swalwell and Beverly Hills woman Lonna Drewes. Prosecutors have not said whether charges will be filed or when any decision will come.
The brief stop came on the couple’s 10th wedding anniversary. A source said Swalwell no longer lives in the city and was in town only for a fleeting business visit.
In April, multiple women publicly accused Swalwell of sexual assault and rape. Drewes, a 50-year-old model, held a press conference and described a 2018 encounter in a West Hollywood hotel room. She said Swalwell drugged her, raped her, and choked her. She told reporters she thought she died. At the time, Swalwell’s wife was pregnant.
"I thought I died."
Drewes and her attorney, Lisa Bloom, went to the Sheriff’s Department in West Hollywood and filed a report. An ex-staffer also alleged rape while she was too intoxicated to consent. The accusations forced Swalwell to resign from his East Bay House seat and abandon a campaign for California governor.
Bloom gave “no comment” when asked about the status of the case. Swalwell’s attorney, Sara Azari, did not immediately respond to questions about the matter reaching Los Angeles prosecutors.
The Department of Justice opened an investigation into the sexual assault claims by multiple women. Investigators in Manhattan and Los Angeles also launched inquiries.
In August, security footage from San Francisco International Airport showed FBI agents questioning Swalwell and seizing his electronic devices. On Aug. 8 he boarded an international flight to Washington. A spokesperson for Azari indicated the travel; media reports suggested he was coming from Frankfurt, Germany. Federal agents monitored the trip.
Azari had already drawn separate scrutiny. Swalwell’s campaign for governor paid her hundreds of thousands of dollars, prompting a state ethics investigation.
In May, Brittany Watts, 41, was spotted without her wedding ring. The D.C. property had been the family home. The Wednesday appearance fell on their anniversary, yet the marriage has been described as on the rocks.
Before the April allegations collapsed his governor run, Swalwell formed Scrublin LLC in July 2025, a media company launched just ahead of that campaign. He has also been tied to Findraiser, an AI campaign tool used to solicit cash from congressional colleagues.
For months after the accusations he kept a low public profile. The Wednesday sighting outside the old family home was the first clear visual in that stretch. He still offered no public response to the new confirmation from the Los Angeles district attorney’s office.
The Los Angeles County DA’s office now holds the file on the Drewes allegations. A report already sits with the West Hollywood sheriff’s station. Federal agents have questioned Swalwell and taken his devices. No charges have been filed. Prosecutors have not announced a timeline.
Swalwell left Congress under the weight of the April claims. He dropped the governor race. His marriage shows open strain. The black SUV on a D.C. curb does not change the open questions sitting on prosecutors’ desks in Los Angeles.
Powerful Democrats spent years lecturing the country on accountability and believing women. Now one of their own waits on a district attorney’s decision, and the public record is still incomplete.
