Despite taking in around $400,000 a year between his Congressional salary and his wife’s consulting work, Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA-14), who’s currently running to replace Gavin Newsom as the Golden State’s governor, has been working side jobs for three of the last four years, one of them for “a global production company run by former senior intelligence officers from the US and UK and experienced Hollywood producers.”
Spycraft Entertainment, founded by retired CIA officers (and prominent pushers of the Steele dossier) John Sipher and Jerry O’Shea, paid Swalwell $28,440 in 2022 and $31,815 in 2023 for “consulting services,” according to his Financial Disclosure Report. He also reported earning $31,815 in 2024 from a different company, The C Street, for which we’ve been unable to find corporate records at this point. It’s interesting, though, that Swalwell earned the exact same amount there that he’d earned from Spycraft Entertainment (SMERSH, LLC).
Sipher is a senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Senior Advisor to the Lincoln Project, and part of National Security Leaders for Biden, The Steady State (an anti-Trump/anti-MAGA organization) and the Council on American Security. His co-founder, Jerry O’Shea, is also retired CIA; according to Spycraft’s website he is “a four-time Chief of Station” who ran “some of CIA’s largest and most critical missions abroad.”
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Swalwell reports the earnings from Spycraft Entertainment as self-employment income on his federal tax return, and lists the principal business as “Administrative Office Support.” Why would Spycraft Entertainment hire Swalwell, an attorney who worked as a prosecutor prior to his election to the House of Representatives, to perform $30,000 worth of admin work a year? Only the most naive among us would believe this.
Swalwell has dabbled in the entertainment industry, writing a book about the Trump impeachments, appearing in Sean Penn’s “documentary” about the Russian/Ukraine war, and briefly executive producing a gun control film, but none of those projects were affiliated with Spycraft Entertainment.
So, what were they paying him for? Administrative office support or consulting services? If it’s not administrative office support, he’s filed at least two false tax returns. He likely couldn’t be prosecuted, though, because that wouldn’t affect the tax calculation. The larger problem is not knowing what “services” Swalwell provided to Spycraft Entertainment and if congressional ethics rules have been followed.
Overall, Swalwell’s tax returns, Financial Disclosure Reports, and campaign finance reports paint the picture of a family with a massive spending issue. As referenced above, he and his wife take home around $400,000 a year, he receives a $1,625 monthly stipend from the House of Representatives for lodging expenses, and his campaign paid more than $244,000 for childcare, yet the Swalwells still withdrew $145,000 from retirement accounts between 2020 and 2022 and zeroed out income tax withholdings from his paycheck in 2022 and 2023 to increase cash flow.
RedState has contacted Spycraft Entertainment to ask for clarification about the services Swalwell provided the company in 2022 and 2023, and if there is any connection between Spycraft Entertainment and The C Street.
Editor’s Note: President Trump is leading America into the “Golden Age” as Democrats try desperately to stop it.
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