OAN Staff Gabriella Sable
2:32 PM – Friday, March 20, 2026
California Democrat gubernatorial candidate and Congressman Eric Swalwell is under investigation by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) over allegations that he billed his campaign for expenses related to his children’s nanny, raising questions about the use of campaign funds for personal costs.
Independent investigative journalist Joel Gilbert, who filed the complaint against Swalwell (D-Calif.), told One America News that the FEC confirmed it is reviewing his claim.
“I submitted the complaint, and they told me it would move through the standard process,” Gilbert said. “It will be assigned to an attorney at the FEC, who will investigate it. Several months from now, they will issue their ruling online. I won’t hear from them until the investigation is complete.”
Gilbert added that the FEC indicated it would also make inquiries of the Swalwell campaign.
According to the FEC, campaigns may cover childcare expenses only when they arise directly from campaign activity and are not for personal use. The agency defines personal use as any expense that would exist “irrespective of a candidate’s campaign or an individual’s duties as a federal officeholder.”
Gilbert argues that the frequency and consistency of Swalwell’s charges suggest they may have been routine rather than tied to specific campaign-related events, as required under FEC guidelines.
“I noticed on his campaign disclosures that he charges childcare all year round, week by week,” Gilbert said. “It lists ‘childcare for campaign events,’ even though there clearly aren’t campaign events 52 weeks a year. It looks like Swalwell was likely violating FEC rules on childcare.”
“He spent over $300,000 on childcare, all charged to his campaign, meaning his donors have paid $300,000 for his childcare from 2021 to 2025,” Gilbert added.
Gilbert’s official FEC complaint states that, in 2025 alone, campaign filings indicate Swalwell was reimbursed a total of $57,132.43 by his campaign for childcare expenses. This included $40,439.83 for his nanny, $14,811.46 for year-round daycare at Bambini Play & Learn, and an additional $1,025 paid to another nanny.
Given Swalwell’s background as a trained attorney and the fact that he had previously sought guidance from the Federal Election Commission on charging childcare to his campaign, Gilbert finds it unlikely that these reimbursements were the result of a simple misunderstanding of campaign finance law.
“The FEC issued a ruling very specifically and said, Swalwell and anybody else, you can only charge your childcare to the campaign if it’s specifically related to a campaign event,” said Gilbert. “So it appears to be a gross misuse of donors’ funds, a violation of FEC rules.”
If you want to hear the full story, watch Joel Gilbert’s full interview on Weekly Briefing with John Hines this Saturday and Sunday at 2 P.M. Eastern, 11 A.M Pacific.
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