We Just Learned What Was Behind the FBI Warrant for Eric Swalwell – It's Not Looking Good for Him

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By Teri Christoph

Things are getting more interesting by the hour in the case of former Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell.

As RedState's Rusty Weiss reported earlier on Thursday, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were waiting for Swalwell when he arrived at San Francisco International Airport over the weekend. We knew that agents had seized his electronic devices as part of an ongoing federal investigation into sexual misconduct allegations that have been made against him.

FBI agents also searched Swalwell's Washington, D.C., home and reportedly seized additional evidence.

We're now learning more about the search warrant behind those seizures, and there's one detail in particular that is raising some very uncomfortable questions for him.

According to a copy of the search warrant that was obtained by the San Francisco Standard, agents seized Swalwell's iPhone and MacBook Pro at approximately 8:25 PM Saturday. The warrant had been filed on August 13 in the Northern District of California and was certified by an FBI agent assigned to the bureau's Public Corruption and Civil Rights Squad in San Francisco.

That information is intriguing on its own, but here's where things get really interesting.

The Swalwell search warrant was apparently issued under 18 U.S.C. § 242, a federal civil-rights statute that applies when someone uses their governmental authority to deprive another person of rights provided to them either through the Constitution or by federal law.

Here is the full reading of the statute:

Section 242 of Title 18 makes it a crime for a person acting under color of any law to willfully deprive a person of a right or privilege protected by the Constitution or laws of the .

For the purpose of Section 242, acts under “color of law” include acts not only done by federal, state, or local officials within their lawful authority, but also acts done beyond the bounds of that official’s lawful authority, if the acts are done while the official is purporting to or pretending to act in the performance of his/her official duties.

Persons acting under color of law within the meaning of this statute include police officers, prisons guards and other law enforcement officials, as well as judges, care providers in public health facilities, and others who are acting as public officials. It is not necessary that the crime be motivated by animus toward the race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin of the victim.

That statute is often used against law-enforcement officers who are accused of abusing their authority. For example, the Standard points out, the officers involved in George Floyd's death were charged under that same statute, which is not strictly limited to police.

That seems important.

The Standard also referred to the case of former Waterbury, Connecticut, Mayor Philip Giordano, who was convicted under the §242 statute back in 2003 for using the power of his office – and his connections to police – to intimidate two girls he had sexually abused into not ratting him out.

It's important to note here that authorities have not accused Swalwell of doing anything similar, nor does the reference to the statute on the warrant indicate that he committed a similar crime.

Nonetheless, it's an interesting development.

Tony Brass, a former federal prosecutor who spoke to the Standard, said the statute could potentially come into play if investigators believe Swalwell used his position in Congress to intimidate witnesses or somehow interfere with another person's rights.

Between the involvement of the FBI's Public Corruption and Civil Rights Squad and the statute that's cited in the warrant, this may turn out to be about more than just the sexual misconduct allegations.

Swalwell has denied the allegations against him, but with FBI agents now digging through his electronic devices and his home, it's becoming increasingly clear that investigators have some serious questions about his actions.

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