Prominent Democrat Congressman, and a member of the House Intel Committee, Eric Swalwell is suspected to have been in an intimate relationship with a Chinese spy before the woman left the USA in 2015. Meanwhile, he has repeatedly refused to answer whether he had sex with the woman claiming that it is “classified information”.
The revelation came as part of an Axios investigation into an intelligence operation that targeted promising politicians who could make it big on the national stage. Axios revealed that the intelligence operative in question, Christine Fang or Fang Fang, used campaign fundraising, extensive networking, personal charisma, and romantic or sexual relationships to gain proximity to those with political power.
Eric Swalwell was one of the most significant targets of Fang. As per the report on Axios, Fang took part in fundraising efforts for the US Congressman’s re-election efforts in 2014. However, she personally did not make any contributions and no illegality was committed. Swalwell was alerted to her antics by federal investigators in 2015.
Swalwell’s office told Axios in a statement, “Rep. Swalwell, long ago, provided information about this person — whom he met more than eight years ago, and whom he hasn’t seen in nearly six years — to the FBI. To protect information that might be classified, he will not participate in your story.” Eric Swalwell reportedly cut off all ties with Fang following the intelligence briefing.
Fang also had sexual or romantic relationships with at least two midwestern mayors. One of them even referred to her as his “girlfriend”. Fang left the United States sometime in 2015. However, she remains Facebook friends with Swalwell’s family, as per reports.
Eric Swalwell, however, believes that the story has broken out only now because he has been critical of US President Donald Trump. “I’ve spoken out against him. I was on both committees that worked to impeach him. The timing feels like that should be looked at,” he said. “What it appears though that this person — as the story reports — was unsuccessful in whatever they were trying to do. But if intelligence officials are trying to weaponize someone’s cooperation, they are essentially seeking to do what this person was not able to do, which is to try and discredit someone,” he added.
“At the same time this story was being leaked out is the time that I was working on impeachment on the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees,” Swalwell told CNN. “If this is a country where people who criticize the President are going to have law enforcement information weaponized against them, that’s not a country that any of us want to live in. I hope it is investigated who leaked this information,” he added.
Apart from Eric Swalwell, another prominent Democrat who was targeted is Ro Khanna. However, it is not yet clear how successful she was with him. However, with Swalwell, Fang was able to place an intern in his office. House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy has said that Swalwell is no longer qualified to serve on the Intel Committee.
“Rep. Swalwell has long been disqualified from serving on the Intel Committee. For years he peddled Russian disinformation for political gain. Now we find out he was involved in an effort by a reported spy to gather info for China. Swalwell is a national security liability,” he said.