When asked about the sensitive issue, he suddenly swiveled the topic to talk about the weather.

swiveled 是动词 swivel 的过去式。swivel 本意是指"旋转、转动"，比如旋转椅子或转头。在这里用作比喻意义，表示"突然改变（话题或方向）"，就像转动方向一样快速切换话题。