(Headline USA) Rep. Eric Swalwell’s, D-Calif., campaign spent more than $60,000 on luxury travel, including swanky hotels and first-class airline flights, over the course of six weeks, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
The documents show that Swalwell’s team dropped $62,000 between April 1 and May 18, including $4,700 to the Loews Miami Beach Hotel in early April, and $1,752 to the five-star Hotel La Maison Champs-Elysees in Paris, France.
The campaign also spent money at the four-star Westin Saint Francis hotel in San Francisco, the five-star Santa Monica Proper Hotel, the four-star Lowes Chicago Hotel, the four-star Ace Hotel New Orleans, the AC Hotel by Marriott in Washington, D.C., and the five-star JW Marriott Essex House overlooking Central Park in New York City.
$57,094 in travel expenses in six weeks? https://t.co/tKhsnSEoft pic.twitter.com/14O9D2Ucis
— Rob Pyers (@rpyers) May 26, 2022
Swalwell also spent thousands of dollars on Lyft and Uber rides, and paid $5,983.65 to Sunny’s Executive Sedan, a luxury limousine service in New York.
He spent more than $22,000 on United Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Delta Airlines, and Alaska Airlines flights. On United alone, he spent $13,000.
The campaign described these payments as “travel expenses” in the filings, but it is not clear what campaign-related events Swalwell was traveling to at the time, especially during the reported trip to Paris.
“Every cent was spent for a campaign purpose,” Lisa Tucker, a spokesperson for the campaign, said in a statement. “The congressman never went to Paris. An aide attended events in Paris as a representative for the campaign.”
Swalwell spent more on these “travel expenses” during this time period than he did on “communications consulting” and “financial services” combined.
Under FEC rules, political candidates are not allowed to use campaign funds for personal expenses.
