FBI agents on Tuesday searched the Beverly Hills mansion of billionaire Stephen Cloobeck, a former Eric Swalwell backer who in April told a reporter to “start investigating everyone in Congress, because it’s a cesspool.”
The search was part of the federal investigation into Swalwell, the former Democratic congressman, ABC7 reported. The warrant is sealed, and FBI sources said no arrests were expected at the home, NBC Los Angeles reported. There is no indication Cloobeck is a target of the probe.
Cloobeck, a hospitality mogul, ended his own bid for California governor to back Swalwell’s campaign. He turned on Swalwell in April after multiple women accused the Democrat of sexual misconduct, with allegations ranging from unwanted advances to rape. Swalwell, who denies the allegations, quit the governor’s race and resigned from Congress that month.
“He lied to us. … You don’t lie about stuff like this,” Cloobeck told FOX 11 reporter Matthew Seedorff in the April interview, adding that Swalwell “never brought a woman” to the mansion when he stayed there.
“If you wanna be a really good investigative journalist, start investigating everyone in Congress, because it’s a cesspool of the s-word,” Cloobeck said. Asked whether more of that was going on, he said, “I gotta be careful,” and urged reporters to “clean it up.”
Asked whether he and Swalwell were still friends, he replied, “Eric who?” He said he was “so disappointed with the Democrats” and declared, “I am now a Republican.”
Cloobeck faces his own legal trouble. In August, he pleaded not guilty to felony charges that he tried to dissuade witnesses from testifying in a burglary case against his former fiancée. His attorney has denied the allegations.
In August, federal agents seized Swalwell’s phone at San Francisco International Airport and searched his Washington home the next day. He has not been charged. His attorney, Sara Azari, said at the time that the case reflected “the apparent use of federal law enforcement information to punish an outspoken critic of the current administration,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Tuesday’s search came one week before the Nov. 3 midterms. The Justice Department has long observed an informal period of “heightened caution” before elections, though no blanket ban exists, Axios reported. Swalwell is not on the ballot.
Federal agents also searched the Washington home of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on Oct. 12 in an immigration fraud probe. Omar told MS NOW that the raid was meant to show Trump’s base that “we raided her house,” but argued it is “doing the opposite,” citing long early-voting lines.
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