Lonna Drewes stood before cameras in Beverly Hills on April 14 and accused Rep. Eric Swalwell of drugging her drink, raping her, and choking her until she lost consciousness during a 2018 encounter, making her the fifth woman to publicly allege sexual misconduct against the California Democrat.
Drewes, flanked by her attorneys including Lisa Bloom, described an incident she said took place after the opening of a restaurant. She told reporters Swalwell assaulted her in a hotel room.
The accusations landed as Swalwell's career was already in free fall. He suspended his run for California governor on Sunday, announced Monday he would resign his congressional seat, and now faces a House Ethics Committee investigation, all within days of the first allegations going public. Yet he has given no firm date for his departure, and at least one member of Congress says his promise to leave is not good enough.
At the Beverly Hills press conference, Drewes told reporters she believed Swalwell drugged her on their third meeting before the alleged assault.
"While he was choking me, I lost consciousness. I thought I died."
Drewes said she did not file a police report at the time. Just The News reported that she told friends about the incident, documented it in a handwritten calendar, and later discussed it in therapy sessions at a sexual assault center.
She explained her years of silence in stark terms. Fox News reported Drewes saying her delay was "driven by fear, not doubt. Fear of his political power, his background as an attorney, and his family."
Bloom, the attorney representing Drewes, said the legal team planned to submit a report to law enforcement. A criminal inquiry has already been opened into a separate alleged assault incident involving Swalwell, Fox News reported.
Drewes is the latest in a growing list. At least five women have now accused Swalwell of sexual misconduct ranging from rape and sexual assault to unsolicited messages and photos. The San Francisco Chronicle published a report on Friday in which multiple women first leveled accusations. Over the weekend, a former staffer told CNN that Swalwell raped her while she was drunk, saying, "He didn't stop."
That former staffer's account helped trigger what has become a rapidly escalating crisis for a congressman who once ran for president and positioned himself as a champion of accountability.
By Tuesday morning, a second alleged victim, Annika Albrecht, went public in a CBS interview. Albrecht said she had been invited to meet Swalwell in a hotel room and that it was "very clear what the connotation was." She did not go.
"For me, justice won't be until he can't ever harm a woman ever again, and he has faced the consequences for the women that he has harmed."
Albrecht told CBS she thinks about "how lucky I am that I didn't go to that hotel." Ally Sammarco, another accuser, also appeared in the CBS interview. Influencer Cheyenne Hunt, who helped bring the accusers' stories to public attention, spoke with CBS News in a segment that aired April 14.
Swalwell announced Monday that he would resign his congressional seat. His statement acknowledged fault in general terms while denying the most serious allegation.
"I am deeply sorry to my family, staff and constituents for mistakes in judgment I've made in my past. I will fight the serious, false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility for the mistakes I did make."
He confirmed he would leave the House but gave no date. He also warned against rushing to judgment "within days of an allegation being made." Breitbart noted that Swalwell's attorney issued a broader denial, saying the congressman "categorically and unequivocally denies each and every allegation of sexual misconduct and assault that has been leveled against him."
The gap between the vague resignation pledge and the categorical denial left many on Capitol Hill unsatisfied. The man who once demanded that accusers be heard during the Kavanaugh hearings was now asking for patience and due process on his own behalf.
Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna made clear she had no intention of waiting. She vowed Tuesday to press ahead with her resolution calling for Swalwell's expulsion from Congress, dismissing his resignation announcement as insufficient.
"His statement about his 'plan to resign his seat' is not binding and is wormy."
Luna had previously moved to expel Swalwell after the initial accusations surfaced. On Monday, she posted on X that she was "being told there will be more disgusting stuff coming out on Swalwell in the next 24 hours." She followed up with a pointed challenge: "Eric, why don't you tell us a little about who was filming the video of the female sex worker."
That reference pointed to a video that circulated on X on Monday showing Swalwell and a woman in bed, with at least two other individuals apparently present. The video's origin and full context remain unclear.
Bloom, for her part, framed Swalwell's resignation not as accountability but as an escape hatch. She told reporters that once Swalwell steps down, the Ethics Committee would lose jurisdiction to impose consequences.
The House Ethics Committee announced its investigation into Swalwell on Monday, though the specific scope of the probe was not detailed. If Swalwell resigns before the committee acts, the investigation would effectively end, a timeline Bloom described as a deliberate strategy to dodge accountability.
Pressure came from both sides of the aisle. Democratic Women's Caucus chairwoman Teresa Leger Fernandez of New Mexico called on both Swalwell and Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales to resign or face an expulsion vote. The bipartisan demand reflected the political reality: neither party wanted to be seen protecting a colleague accused of sexual misconduct.
Swalwell's political future had already collapsed before Drewes came forward. He suspended his gubernatorial campaign on Sunday, one day before the Ethics Committee acted. His allies had largely gone quiet.
Swalwell was not the only congressman heading for the exits on Monday. Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas announced he would also resign, writing on X that he would file his retirement when Congress returned the next day.
"There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all. It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas."
Gonzales had already dropped his reelection bid after admitting to an affair with a married aide, Regina Aviles. He initially denied the relationship before acknowledging it last month, calling it a "mistake" and a "lapse in judgment." Aviles later took her own life last September.
Gonzales said he had reconciled with his wife and asked God for forgiveness. Even members of Swalwell's own party had urged him to step aside before the latest accusation made the situation untenable.
Several questions hang over the Swalwell matter. He has not set a resignation date. The Ethics Committee investigation could evaporate the moment he leaves. Luna's expulsion resolution faces uncertain timing in a chamber that has rarely expelled members in modern history. And the identities of all five accusers, and the full scope of their allegations, have not been publicly confirmed in a single accounting.
Swalwell and his wife, Brittany Watts, have three young children and have been married nine years. As recently as February 21, he was speaking at the California Democratic Convention in San Francisco as a candidate for governor. That ambition is now finished.
The congressman who built a brand on demanding that powerful men face consequences now faces five accusers, an ethics probe, an expulsion threat, and a resignation promise with no date attached. Whether the system he once championed will hold him to the same standard remains, for now, an open question, and one his own party seems in no hurry to answer.