Swalwell Seizure: FBI Probing Fmr. Congressman

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This all goes back to accusations of sexual assault, but why is the FBI leading the charge? The national debt balloons to, wait, is this number a typo? What a huge, eye-popping number. It is $40 trillion. But if lawmakers don't seem to care, why should other Americans? We'll break it all down. And lots of people move back near aging family members, but those family members don't usually wear crowns. I mean, it's huge. And this country is in shock. Whiplash. Just when they thought they were out, Britain pulled Harry and Meghan back in. From ABC News, this is Start Here. I'm Brad Milkey. Six months ago, Eric Swalwell was the leading contender to be the next governor of California. I asked all Californians, all Americans, to link arms and use their map to guide us and their courage to fuel us. He was a seven-term congressman, a former presidential candidate, and the leading Democrat in the polls. But over the course of just days, his candidacy fell apart. After mounting pressure, not just from Republicans, but fellow Democrats as well, Congressman Eric Swalwell is. is suspending his campaign for California governor. mainly because several different women accused him of sexual misconduct, including one who alleged she was sexually assaulted by him. He raped me, and he choked me, and while he was choking me, I lost consciousness. Swalwell denied the accusations, but suspended his campaign anyway. These allegations of sexual assault are flat false. They're absolutely false. He later resigned from Congress. but that wasn't the end of the case. California officials called for the continuation of a criminal investigation. Well, yesterday, we learned from sources that Eric Swalwell was stopped over the weekend at San Francisco International Airport by FBI agents who seized his cell phone and other electronic devices. FBI agents also searched his Washington home. ABC's Peter Haralambos has been following all this. Peter, can you just break down what happened here? Yeah, Brad, we're dealing with two main warrants here. First, this one at SF International Airport. Swalwell was traveling through Saturday night. The next morning, agents also showed up at his house and executed a warrant there. This is all stemming from what is reportedly a federal civil rights investigation into his conduct. It comes as Swalwell's really facing multiple allegations, from about a half dozen women who have accused him of sexual misconduct. Beyond that federal investigation, he's also facing probes from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Office and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. And can you walk. Can you walk us back through, like, what is he being accused of more specifically? Yeah, so this appears to all stem from the flurry of allegations we saw when he was running for governor in California. We've seen multiple women accuse him of misconduct, and we saw him suspend his campaign back in April, the day before the San Francisco Chronicle reported that an ex-staffer alleged that he sexually assaulted her twice when she was too intoxicated to consent. Specifically, Lana Drews has alleged that Swalwell drugged and raped her at a political event they both attended back in 2018. Swalwell, at this point, has denied all of these allegations, though he's resigned from Congress and suspended his gubernatorial campaign. And Brad, an attorney representing Lana Drews, said in a statement after this news broke that they're encouraged to learn about the escalation of the investigation and that they'll continue to cooperate with authorities. Yeah, and in fact, last night, we actually just got a winner in the special election race to replace Swalwell. Aisha Wahab now becomes the first Afghan-American to win a U.S. congressional seat. Of course, she has to do it all again now in November. But, Peter, you also mentioned a civil rights investigation, because I'm used to hearing about state authorities pursuing sex crimes cases. Is it unusual for feds to get involved in cases like this, or how are they characterizing this? You're right, Brad. This is a little unorthodox. Generally, these kinds of sexual assault allegations stem from the local level. It's not a federal issue. But it appears in this case that Swalwell is being investigated by the Department of Justice, kind of using a civil rights law to kind of probe these allegations. And, you know, while the Department of Justice, can pretty easily send grand jury subpoenas at the start of most criminal investigations, a search warrant is the next step up that requires going to a judge and demonstrating probable cause. So the fact that they've gotten to the point where they have these warrants for both the electronic devices for the home suggests the investigation has at least moved along. But it remains to be seen where the Department of Justice goes with this, especially now that they've executed these warrants, where they likely have gigabytes and gigabytes of electronic data from Swalwell's devices. And one other thing that's interesting is also the timing of this. Earlier this week, the White House actually released some previously classified documents related to a previous unrelated investigation into Swalwell's relationship with a woman believed to be a Chinese spy. Now, again, he's denied any kind of wrongdoing when it comes to those allegations. And they've been around at this point for years when Swalwell acknowledges that he had a brief physical relationship with Christine Fang, this suspected Chinese spy. Now, of course, there are concerns about the selective release of classified documents, what's being withheld, what's being released. All of that's kind of unknown in situations like this. So that's taken with a grain of salt. Well, and that's why I was wondering, is anyone else looking into this? Because isn't the question going to be, does any of this federal involvement have to do with the fact that this is Eric Swalwell, noted opponent to President Trump politically? Trump is no stranger to saying, hey, I think the FBI should investigate so-and-so. Is that at play here at all or no? You know, it remains to be seen, Brad, but this kind of demonstrates one of the issues that the Department of Justice is running into, right? Because we've seen these past cases where they've been accused of politicizing things, weaponizing the Department of Justice, it really makes the DOJ susceptible to that allegation that an investigation is rooted in politics, not in true allegations. Now, there are so many unknowns here when it comes to the Swalwell investigation. It's clear that there are multiple people who've come forward accusing him of wrongdoing, It's also clear that over the course of his time in Congress, he was a vocal opponent of the president, one of his chief antagonists, someone who was one of the prosecutors during his 2021 impeachment after January 6th, someone who the president has kind of celebrated his downfall. With that reality, the Department of Justice now has to contend with at least the allegation out there that this might be political, and it makes it difficult for prosecutors to kind of move forward with the case. Because they have to deal with the baggage of all those other cases that have been branded political. Think of the James Comey case. Think of the Letitia James case. That baggage now comes with any case they pursue, especially if it's against a politician. Right. And yeah, as you've told me before, like, there are also cases that a lot of people claim are political that you're like, no, the FBI has been investigating this for a long time. So that's a very real possibility as well. All right. Peter Harlambos, thank you so much. Thanks so much, Brad. Next up on Start Here, the National Department. Deficit sounds really boring until it starts affecting your personal finances. We're back in a bit. We're talking financials, inventory, commerce, HR, and CRM all together in one single source. And NetSuite Next brings all that to the next level by building AI into everything you do. It'll surface custom insights. It'll connect you with AI agents to help solve problems and answer your questions in a friendly way, like you're talking to a colleague. Whether your company earns millions or hundreds of millions, it's time for NetSuite Next, where business meets AI. For the first time ever, you can try NetSuite Next for free. 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Some would say that means we're teetering on the brink of an economic D-Day of our own making. But whenever I hear that, I'm also like, why exactly? The U.S. always seems to be at a deficit. Politicians at various times say they care about it. But what is the difference between a $1 trillion? $1 trillion deficit and a $40 trillion deficit? And if the chickens did come home to roost on that debt, what would that even look like? What's the problem? I want to bring in Heather Long. She's the chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. Heather, I love that you're able to explain this in ways I understand. How much is $40 trillion really? Like, how does that debt stack up against historic precedent for us? I mean, wow, what a huge, eye-popping number it is, $40 trillion. Right. But from an economic standpoint, the key thing to think about is, this is the biggest. This is the biggest debt load the U.S. has seen since World War II. Huh. And the way that we think about it is $40 trillion as a percent of the economy. So basically, it's now taking up the entire share, the whole pie of the economy that we produce every year. And that's why it's such a key milestone that we hit. It's not that 40 is the, you know, like turning age 40 or something. But it's this notion that it's $100. 100% of our economy is now in debt. 100% in terms of, like, we talk about the GDP and stuff. You're saying it's 100% of that? Yeah. I mean, historically, politicians across the political spectrum have been okay with the U.S. going into debt for war or for recessions, you know, trying to help the country like we did in the pandemic, trying to help us through a rough time and ensure people don't fall into poverty. But the idea is that when the rainy days go away and the sun comes out, and. Things are better, and the unemployment rate's low, and companies are at record profit levels, kind of like we are right now, that we should be paying down that debt, you know? And that's what hasn't happened in the last decade. There's been an agreement. You can blame both Republicans and Democrats, but there's been this almost bipartisan agreement not to care. But the bond market has reawakened and said, hello, it's time to care. And explain that to me, yeah, because the government, we were talking about this earlier, this week, government gives out bonds, people buy the bonds, and then they get a predetermined amount of money back for those bonds. But when people can kind of smell blood in the water, they're like, well, we want higher interest rates. So the interest rates go up. The U.S. owes more in interest payments. But how does that end up affecting anyone, I guess, in real life? Yeah, we've certainly been in debt for a long time in the United States. Certainly, if you're a millennial or younger, it feels like forever. But it's starting to make everything else in the budget look very, very small. What I mean by that is we now pay more in interest on our debt than we do on our U.S. military budget. Wow. It's just, you know, it's becoming, it's kind of like when people get big into credit card debt. It's like the only thing you're focused on is, gee, I owe so much to the creditors. You know, I wrote a piece a year ago, the bond market is king now. You know, if the bond investors are unhappy with something that the U.S. government is doing, boom, they react by spiking these borrowing costs and forcing the government to act. Because, so it is, so we are paying the interest. Because I always think, like, the U.S. just isn't even paying it. You're saying we are, but it's almost like we're getting out, we're taking out other credit cards to finance the current credit cards. Like, that's how it's working. Exactly. You know, this has real ramifications for Main Street. It impacts, immediately is impacting mortgage rates. It's heading back towards 7%. Auto loans are going up, small business loans, personal loans. We've seen a lot of people trying to take out personal loans and make ends meet right now. And so that's, this isn't just Wall Street trading with Wall Street. This is impacting Main Street too. And on top of that, our outlook for the next 20 years is bleak. It's just more, more, more, more debt accumulation, more, more, more interest. So yeah, that's my last question then, is like, what's the worst case scenario here? When you say, like, at some point, the bondholders are like, no, no, no, we're not going to buy these bonds unless you're doing stuff we want to see. What is the worst case version of that? The worst case scenario is almost what is known as a black swan event. And that's the yields go up really quickly and it spooks the stock market. And suddenly there's a huge sell-off in the stock market. And a lot of deals that were looking good at, you know, 4.5% or 5% borrowing costs are suddenly facing a 6% cost or a 7% cost and they can't make it happen. And so basically the economy falls into recession. Oh, everyone who is counting on affordable loans can't make them and now you don't build that new business or you don't expand or whatever it is. Yes. And it's kind of like the tide going out and you find out who's naked. You know, you find out who, you know, who's not going to make it in that situation. And there's also political ramifications. A lot of people will call it the Liz Truss moment over in the UK and it happened. That's how the prime minister, Liz Truss, lost her job is, you know, she proposed something the bond market didn't like and she was out of a job shortly thereafter. Right. And I know you've written about this before, how other countries, once people stop believing that a country can effectively pay back its debts or if they think that the country is getting so skittish about it, that they start manipulating their own data. That's when no one gives them credit. And that's how an economy just completely tanks. That's why we're hearing the warning bells this week. All right. Heather Long with Navy Federal Credit Union. Thank you so much. Thank you. You ever have weird moments of national pride when you're not expecting them? Like this summer when Europeans came to the U.S. for the World Cup and were like, you know what's awesome? Bass Pro Shops. I was like, yes, finally, they get it. Well, one of the most unanticipated moments of patriotism for me, was when Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, decided to call it quits on the British royal family and moved to the U.S., especially for Americans who liked Meghan Markle, who were like, yeah, girl, get out of there. They don't appreciate you enough. Who needs the U.K.? Well, this week, the couple that shocked Britain by leaving has shocked the rest of the world by going back. They've announced they will go back to living in the U.K., although it doesn't appear they will be returning to palace living anytime soon. ABC's chief international correspondent, James Longman, is outside of the U.K., but he's at a palace right now, actually, Buckingham Palace. He's on the street, James. This sounded like a huge deal, right? Do we know why they're coming back? I mean, it's huge. And this country is in shock, whiplash. Everyone is just completely bowled over. I mean, Meghan and Harry basically told Britain, see you later. We're not interested, you know, and they burned their bridges, let's be real. I mean, the interview they gave with Oprah, where they basically insinuated that, you know, this is a kind of cold, damp little island and they weren't interested anymore. And Montecito, with its beautiful sunlit valleys, was much more interesting, too. So Britain kind of took offense a little bit, and then he wrote the book and, again, opened up some of those family wounds, and then he took on the press, and we don't know why now. We can speculate now. So the timing seems to be ahead of this new school year. They have two children who are seven and five, and they want them to be enrolled in the new school year. It seems that Harry and Meghan spent a lovely summer here in Britain in the boiling heat, being reminded of the weather in California, perhaps, but being surrounded by the sun. So, you know, I don't know if it's because of that, but I think it's because of the way the family here, especially of Diana's family, the Spencer family, they would spend some time at the ancestral home of the Spencers, Lord Althorp and the others. And so I think perhaps they were reminded about this kind of life here that they enjoy. I think the specter of his father's illness is hanging over all of this. We are told that King Charles is responding well to cancer treatment, but look, it might have dawned on the family that they might not have much longer with their grandfather. Right. You only have one dad. You only have one grandfather in terms of, you can only have one grandfather who's king. And you just think your kids, I'd like my kids to spend more time with my dad. So look, there could be all kinds of dynamics at play here. I think certainly life is expensive in the United States, as anyone listening to this will be able to testify, even for the Meghan and Harry juggernaut, they are not strapped for cash, but covering your own security is incredibly, incredibly expensive in the millions one imagines. I mean, their home in Montecito has entire buildings which are devoted to security personnel. And it's expensive to do that. And one of the big things that Harry has long said is he wants the British government to cover his family's security, wants to have them pay for it. One of the big arguments that the British government has made is, well, we won't do that because you don't live here. So if maybe the calculation is if we live here, they'll pay for it. Well, and like the whole thing was Harry kind of had to, I don't know, cut ties with the family. Prince Harry, right? Like, so he didn't get out of the family line or anything but he hasn't been doing the job of being a royal right which is that a job does he go back now to being a working royal what happens he is still part of the royal succession he is a royal prince he can never not be a prince unless of course they andrew mountbatten wins him which is unlikely but he is and his family are still in the royal line of succession what they are not you're right are working royals they do not work on behalf of the monarch they don't do any public engagements and for that reason they do not get any kind of public support that is the reason that's given now harry and his family will say well okay but i was born into this i have a certain level of note of kind of my profile is such that i attract a lot of public attention my safety is at risk the safety of my wife and my children is at risk and it doesn't matter if i'm not working for the firm i deserve some protection that's his argument but when they come back here we're told from both parties that that they will not be working for the monarchy um and apart from anything else there's no appetite in the palace for that they have said quite clearly in this statement that they put out saying um that they will be they will be private uh citizens here and and privately they've been briefing the press to say there's not going to be a half in half out arrangement that is to say they can't come back and pick and choose what they want and i think that is the fear that the palace has because you know brad being a royal is kind of boring and dull a lot of the time you spend an awful lot of time in wet car parks shaking hands of minor local note notable people you'll get you get given kind of stale soggy sandwiches you spend an awful lot of time shaking the hands of people who you will never meet again it is not glamorous it'd be nice to just to do a it might be a summer royal perhaps not the winter royal yeah you might get a you know a tiara on and go to a banquet or go to a major event go to some premieres you know launch some really sexy charity and you know initiatives be cool on tv but you know that's only 10 of the job you know a big chunk of this job is actually working that's what they call them working royals i mean princess anne that woman is a workhorse she's up and down this country shaking hands with all kinds of people from all walks of life that's what they do and the royal family will be very very very worried that these two want to swan back in do all the glam stuff and not do any of the work and that's why they're keen to say there's no half in half out now down the line who knows but at the moment that's the case that's interesting because i feel like we knew what the popularity thing would be here right of like a lot of brits are very you know a lot of them like harry but they're very divided on on megan markle there's been uh undertones of racism throughout coverage of her who knows if that continues and yet that's not what the palace is talking about palace is just like we don't want to set a precedent of having our family members waltz in and out of the country whenever they feel like it uh james long is a great example of that and i think it's a great example of that and i think it's a great in london right now thank you so much you got it okay one more quick break when we come back worries about needles have taken a sharp turn one last thing is next this episode is brought to you by progressive insurance do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies try it at progressive.com progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates potential savings will vary not available in all states this show is sponsored by progressive insurance you're listening to this podcast so i know you've got a curious mind here's a helpful fact you might not know yet drivers who switch and save with progressive save over 900 on average pop over to progressive.com answer some questions and you'll get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by in fact 99 of their auto customers earn at least one discount visit progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a and affiliates national average 12 month savings of 946 by new customers surveyed who saved with progressive between june 2024 and may 2025 potential savings will vary and one last thing it's become clear just how impactful glp ones are becoming in american culture as drugs like ozempic and we go v and zep bound proliferate patients are thinner fridges are emptier and junk food companies are reworking their entire strategies around new eating patterns but another place people are feeling this diet revolution is in their fingers they're saying ouch yesterday the new york city sanitation department announced it was raising the penalty for households who don't properly throw out medical supplies like syringes because apparently there are more needles than ever in your average trash bag and sanitation workers are getting pricked more often we don't want to reach into the bags and get stuck with a needle that's the reason why i started putting out social media videos about this noting a surge in uncovered syringes it's more and more my colleagues are getting stuck with these needles and that's unacceptable and very easily avoidable it's not just about pain either medical waste is dangerous for lots of reasons including the risk of diseases and infections so what are you supposed to do as a trash thrower outer well even if you put the cap back on a needle it could come off in the trash so officials say you should be dropping off your syringes at any hospital or nursing home local pharmacies often also have drop boxes just for this if that's not an option you should be collecting needles in a sealable hard plastic container doesn't have to be fancy think like an empty laundry detergent bottle but instead of recycling that you want to seal it securely write in bold marker household sharps not for recycling and put it with your regular trash the folks who pick it up will thank you now none of this is new policy except for new york city's fines which now run 250 bucks but it does speak to how huge cultural shifts often carry unforeseen consequences and in this case very pointed feedback now we just got to fix the issue of people washing out their beer bottles and the recycling guys might not hate us as much either start here is produced by jen newman anthony ali aaron ferrer emily schutz and vika aronson ariel chester is our social media producer josh cohan is director of podcast programming i'm our managing editor thanks to john newman tara gimble amin mcniff and katie dendos special thanks to our sponsors this week to trevor hastings audrey mostek morgan windsor and eric strauss i'm brad milkey see you next week hey it's ryan reynolds here for mint 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over 900 dollars on average pop over to progressive.com and you'll get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by in fact 99 of their auto customers earn at least one discount visit progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little cash back progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates national average 12 month savings of 946 by new customers surveyed who saved with progressive between june 2024 and may 2025 potential savings will vary