A California woman accused former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) of drugging, raping and choking her in 2018 — adding to the growing list of women who have accused the politician of sexual assault and misconduct.
Attorney Lisa Bloom, along with the woman, Lonna Drewes, hosted a press conference on Tuesday in which Drewes detailed her allegations. Drewes told reporters that she met Swalwell on three occasions because he offered to use his connections in Silicon Valley to support her fashion software company. She said the first two times she met him were at public events.
On the third occasion, Drewes said they were supposed to go to a political event, but Swalwell said he needed to first pick up paperwork from his hotel room. She believes Swalwell drugged her because when she arrived at his hotel room after having just one glass of wine, she was “already incapacitated” and couldn’t move her arms or body.
“He raped me and he choked me. And while he was choking me, I lost consciousness, and I thought I died,” Drewes said, looking visibly shaken. “I did not consent to any sexual activity.”
An attorney for Swalwell did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment on this most recent allegation. Previously, Swalwell apologized for his past “mistakes in judgement” but denied all allegations of sexual assault and misconduct as “flat false” in a video posted to social media.
