Former California congressman Eric Swalwell sent nude photos and videos of himself to women through Snapchat while married, his own attorney acknowledged to CNN, framing the conduct as "extramarital contact with women" that was nonetheless consensual. The admission lands at the center of a widening pattern of allegations that has already cost the 45-year-old Democrat his seat in Congress, his bid for governor, and much of whatever political credibility he had left.
The accounts, reported by the New York Post and attributed in large part to CNN's reporting, describe a congressman who used the disappearing-message features of Snapchat to contact multiple women, including a 19-year-old waitress and a young former congressional staffer, with sexually explicit material, all while married to hospitality entrepreneur Brittany Watts.
Swalwell married Watts in 2016. They have three children. He resigned from Congress last month and simultaneously abandoned his campaign for California governor. His attorney, Sara Azari, told CNN:
"He had extramarital contact with women. He's not denying that. But that's very different than engaging in nonconsensual sexual misconduct."
That distinction, consensual versus nonconsensual, is doing a great deal of heavy lifting for a man whose conduct, even on the most charitable reading his lawyer can offer, involved a sitting U.S. congressman sending graphic images and videos to women far younger and far less powerful than himself.
The former staffer told CNN that Swalwell began sending her "flirty" Snapchat messages starting in 2021, after she had already left Capitol Hill. The relationship escalated. She said the two had sex in hotels over the years.
She later showed CNN nude photos and videos Swalwell had sent her. Her description of his Snapchat habits was blunt:
"His stories would be his, like, congressional content, but then he would be sending me d*** pics."
The juxtaposition is worth pausing over. On one track, official congressional messaging. On the other, explicit material sent to a young woman who had recently worked in the same professional ecosystem. The former staffer's account suggests Swalwell treated Snapchat as a dual-purpose tool, public image management and private misconduct, running side by side.
Separately, a 19-year-old waitress in Los Angeles told CNN she was "stunned" to receive a LinkedIn message from Swalwell after a brief interaction at an event. The East Bay congressman, then a married father, reached out to a teenager through a professional networking platform.
As the Manhattan DA opened an investigation into a rape accusation from a former staffer, the scope of Swalwell's alleged behavior grew harder to dismiss as mere personal failings.
The personal conduct allegations sit alongside financial questions that remain unresolved. Campaign records show Swalwell racked up $500,000 in hotel charges during his time in Congress. He also ran up a $6,000 bill on booze delivery alone.
Those campaign funds paid for trips to Las Vegas, New York, and Los Angeles. Whether any of those trips overlapped with the hotel encounters described by the former staffer or other women is a question the available reporting does not answer, but the sheer scale of the spending invites scrutiny.
Donors have taken notice. Major contributors have demanded $1.5 million back as the accusations have piled up. Among Swalwell's former financial backers: billionaire Steve Cloobeck, once described as a major campaign donor and pal, who reportedly owns a $45 million villa at the members-only El Dorado Beach Club.
Perhaps the most telling detail is what happened after Swalwell left office. He reportedly continued messaging women on Snapchat even after resigning from Congress. One account references Swalwell confronting a woman over screenshotting one of his "snaps", a detail that suggests he was aware the disappearing-message format provided cover, and reacted when that cover was breached.
His former political director, Cheri Greven, recalled her own unease dating back to his first congressional campaign in 2012, when Swalwell held work meetings at a Hooters restaurant in Dublin, California. Her reaction at the time: "I hope he stops meeting at Hooters." He did not, apparently, develop better judgment with time or authority.
Meanwhile, model Lonna Drewes has accused Swalwell of sexual assault at a hotel, an allegation his attorney has denied. A fifth woman has come forward with assault accusations, and Swalwell's resignation timeline has itself drawn questions.
Last month, Watts was spotted in a resort town in Mexico. She was later seen with the couple's three children at Los Cabos International Airport, returning from what was described as a week-long luxury escape. The family was flying back to their home in Washington, D.C.
The trip coincided roughly with the period in which Swalwell's political career disintegrated. He resigned from Congress and dropped his gubernatorial bid in the same stretch. Even Nancy Pelosi urged him to step aside from the governor's race amid the growing accusations, a remarkable move from a leader not known for publicly cutting loose members of her own caucus.
Azari, Swalwell's attorney, has denied allegations of sexual misconduct and assault and insisted the relationships were consensual. But the attorney's own framing concedes the central fact: Swalwell carried on affairs with multiple women while married, used platforms designed to erase evidence, and did so while serving in Congress and spending donor money at a pace that demands an accounting.
Several questions hang over this story. What specific campaign records document the $500,000 in hotel charges? Did any of those expenditures directly fund the encounters described by the women? What is the full scope of the allegations Azari is categorically denying? And why did Swalwell continue the same behavior on Snapchat after leaving office, when the political incentive to stop should have been obvious?
Swalwell's political future has collapsed, with allies abandoning him and a district attorney's probe looming. The man who once positioned himself as a Democratic rising star, who ran for president, sat on the Intelligence Committee, and lectured the country about accountability, now stands exposed by his own attorney's admissions, his own campaign spending records, and the accounts of women who kept the receipts he tried to make disappear.
Snapchat deletes messages. Voters have longer memories.