Former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s old congressional committee refunded about $200,000 in political contributions after he abandoned his campaign for California governor and resigned from Congress following accusations of sexual misconduct.
Swalwell refunded political contributions to dozens of donors to his congressional campaign in May, according to a new financial filing with the Federal Election Commission, after reports of sexual assault alleged against him surfaced in April.
Federal filings also indicate Swalwell’s congressional committee paid about $50,000 on April 9 for “legal & accounting services” to criminal defense lawyer Sara Azari, whose website advertises “High-Profile Sexual Misconduct & #metoo Defense.”
Swalwell’s committee footed other legal bills, as well: $23,998 to Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass, a San Francisco legal firm, on April 3 for “legal fees,” and $25,677 to national legal firm Greenberg Traurig for “legal & accounting services”.
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The Swalwell campaign committee did not respond to a request for comment asking for the nature of these payments
Swalwell’s congressional campaign started the year with about $289,000 cash on hand, according to a previous FEC report. Now the former congressman’s committee has about $11,000.
Elected to Congress in 2012, Swalwell briefly ran for president during the 2020 election.
Swalwell also faced many scandals during his political career — from allegedly associating with a Chinese spy and accepting a paid trip to the Middle East in the midst of the 2020 pandemic, to using his political position to promote his AI startup. Despite these troubles, he continued to remain relevant in Democratic politics — and for a while, he led a Democratic primary to become governor of California.
Now, after the disgraced former congressman has retreated from public life, he is facing a federal investigation over alleged sexual misconduct after the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN reported he had inappropriate relationships with several female congressional staffers. One of these staffers said the congressman sexually assaulted her two times and sent her inappropriate pictures through social media.
Swalwell has denied the accusations.
Quickly after these allegations, Swalwell’s political allies, such as Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona) and Adam Schiff (D-California), called him to suspend his bid for governor.
In May, Gallego’s Senate campaign committee gave $19,000 it received from Swalwell’s political committee to an anti-sexual violence organization in Arizona.
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