House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is expected to introduce a resolution to remove California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee due to his recently revealed former connection to alleged Chinese spy Christine Fang.
“Swalwell has not denied public reporting that a suspected Chinese intelligence operative helped raise money for Representative Swalwell’s campaigns and facilitated the potential assignment of interns into Representative Swalwell’s offices,” a draft of McCarthy’s resolution said. “Swalwell should be removed from his committee assignment in light of conduct he has exhibited.”
GOP MEMBERS OF CONGRESS DEMAND ANSWERS FROM FBI ON SWALWELL’S TIES TO CHINESE SPY
News broke in December that Swalwell was associated with Fang, an alleged Chinese spy, who conducted an extensive political influence operation between 2011 and 2015 in California’s Bay Area and elsewhere. She also had romantic relationships with two Midwestern mayors. Swalwell said he later cooperated with the FBI during its investigation into her activities, but he has refused to say publicly what the extent of his relationship with her was.
The news prompted congressional Republicans to call for Swalwell’s removal from the powerful House Intelligence Committee, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reassigned him to the committee and made him an impeachment manager.
“If you cannot get a security clearance in the private sector, you should not be appointed to the Intel Committee,” McCarthy said in a press conference on Thursday. “Eric Swalwell, based on everything in public that you know, cannot get a security clearance in the private sector, but only in Congress would he get appointed to learn all the secrets of America. That’s wrong.”
He clarified that Swalwell has not been rejected for a security clearance but that he believes the California congressman would not meet the standard based on his association with Fang.
It is unclear when McCarthy will seek to force a vote on the resolution, and it is unlikely to pass the Democratic-controlled House.
Swalwell responded in a tweet, calling the resolution “New McCarthyism,” a reference to former Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s campaign against alleged communists in the 1950s that put people on blacklists despite not belonging to the Communist Party.
McCarthy’s resolution “fails to include multiple FBI statements of ‘no wrongdoing’ and did nothing but ‘cooperate,'” Swalwell said.
The minority leader challenged the notion that the FBI cleared Swalwell of wrongdoing. “The FBI told you that? I think you should have a different briefing if you were allowed to have one,” he told a reporter who said that the FBI had said Swalwell was not accused of wrongdoing.
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The San Francisco Chronicle reported in December that an FBI official familiar with the investigation said that “Swalwell was completely cooperative and under no suspicion of wrongdoing.” The story that broke the news of his relationship with the spy said that the FBI declined to comment.
“You can’t read it, it’s classified. I can’t talk about what I learned in a classified briefing. But I know the speaker heard the same thing I heard,” McCarthy said.
Meet the New McCarthyism. Multiple sentences in resolution state “Swalwell has not denied…” Yet fails to include multiple FBI statements of “no wrongdoing” and did nothing but “cooperate.” All of this to deflect from @GOPLeader’s support for QAnon. https://t.co/2bsU72ev8H
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) March 18, 2021
