Another woman came forward Tuesday to describe rape allegations against Congressman Eric Swalwell, who said Monday he will resign from Congress amid sexual harassment allegations.
Lona Drews said at a news conference called by her lawyers that she was approached by Swalwell on three separate occasions in 2018 while she was working as a model in Beverly Hills.
The third time she met him, she said, she believed he had spiked her drink. She said they had to go to a political event and they went to her hotel room to collect paperwork. She said she felt incapacitated after drinking just one glass of wine.
“He raped me and he strangled me and while he was strangling me I passed out and I thought I was dead,” she said. “I did not consent to any sexual activity.”
Lona Drewes, left, said she met with Representative Eric Swalwell on three occasions in Beverly Hills in 2018 and accused him of sexual harassment.
(Myung Jae Chun/Los Angeles Times)
She said she did not undergo a rape test, but told people close to her about the attack and wrote about it in her calendar. He never had further contact with Swalwell, his attorney said.
Swalwell’s attorney, Elias Dabai, did not immediately respond to a call or email requesting comment.
She said that she was not interested in him romantically, and that she was in a relationship at the time. He had a pregnant wife, he said. She said he offered her contacts she believed could help her advance her fashion software company.
She said that the alleged rape had a severe impact on her mental health, leading her to self-medicate. She said she also went to therapy sessions at a sexual assault centre.
“I didn’t want to live anymore,” she said. “I cried all the time for years.”
At a news conference Monday announcing the charges, attorneys presented a photo of him and Swalwell at the opening of a restaurant called Avera.
She said she was considering a political career at the time. He said, after the incident he felt he had no option but to remain silent.
Lona Drews, represented by her attorney Eric Fadl, described the 2018 encounter during a news briefing in Beverly Hills.
(Myung Jae Chun/Los Angeles Times)
He said, “My delay in taking action against Eric was motivated not by suspicion but by fear.” “I never doubted what happened.”
She said she would soon file a report with law enforcement.
Eric Fudali, one of the lawyers representing Druze, said he hoped his client’s account would encourage other women to come forward.
“This is not about Democrats versus Republicans,” Fudali said. “It’s about accountability versus silence.”
“Lona deserves what all women deserve – autonomy over her body,” said attorney Lisa Bloom. “We will file a police report immediately.”
Bloom said he would provide text messages, journal entries and photographs to police and wanted to assist the investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney, who opened a case of charges against Swalwell. He said three other women have contacted him.
He called Swalwell’s recent statements about the allegations against him “outrageous and wrong” and a “slap in the face” to the victims.
“Stop it,” she said. “Behave yourself.”
A woman told CNN that after messaging Eric Swalwell last year about her interest in Democratic politics, he met her for drinks and tried to stop her advances without jeopardizing potential job opportunities. She said she began feeling “really weird” and drunk and later found herself in the hotel room with no recollection of how she got there.
Another woman, a former staff member who accused Swalwell of rape, told CNN that she met him for drinks in 2019, passed out and woke up naked in his hotel bed and could tell he had had intercourse. She said that in a separate encounter years later, he forced himself on her while she was too intoxicated to consent despite her protests.
