The Air Marshals Keeping Watch On Eric Swalwell
The FBI made a highly irregular request to monitor one of Trump’s most visible critics.
TL;DR
- Federal agents covertly monitored former Representative Eric Swalwell on a flight from Germany.
- The FBI's request for air marshals to conduct surveillance and obtain passcodes is considered highly unusual by former officials.
- Swalwell is a vocal critic of the Trump administration and faces multiple accusations of sexual assault, which he denies and for which he has not been charged.
- FBI agents later seized Swalwell's phone and computer using a warrant that cited a civil-rights statute.
- Legal experts question the application of this statute to a legislator.
- The FBI's decision to publicly release classified files related to a past counterintelligence investigation involving Swalwell has also been noted.
- Some officials believe the extensive surveillance and investigative actions may be politically motivated due to Swalwell's opposition to the Trump administration.