House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy reiterated his call for Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell’s removal from the House Committee on Intelligence following a briefing from the FBI on Friday.
“The Intel Committee is a special committee. It’s a committee that keeps our secrets. It’s a committee that knows our secrets. It’s a committee that has a lot of information that members of Congress do not,” the California Republican said Friday afternoon. “I just think there are 200 other Democrats that I know who can fill that place long before this individual should be serving.”
Earlier in the day, McCarthy was given a briefing from the FBI on its investigation into Fang Fang, a suspected Chinese spy who spent years building relationships with Democratic politicians throughout the country, including Swalwell. Although he would not comment on the substance of his conversation with the FBI, he told reporters that “it only raised more questions. The one thing that was fundamentally answered was that he should not be on Intel.”
Numerous Republicans in both the House and the Senate have called for a further investigation into Swalwell’s relationship with Fang. Earlier this week, 17 GOP lawmakers sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, calling for Swalwell to be stripped of his spot on the committee.
When Swalwell ended his relationship with Fang also remains an open question. According to Axios, which broke the news that Fang had fundraised for Swalwell’s 2014 reelection campaign, he was briefed by intelligence officials about Fang’s purported ties to the Chinese government in 2015. In an interview with CNN earlier this month, however, Swalwell implied that he had been warned about Fang in 2014.
Swalwell has served on the House Intel Committee since the beginning of 2015.
“Congressman Swalwell’s determined leadership and energetic, fresh perspective will help our country meet the national security and intelligence challenges of the 21st century,” Pelosi said in an announcement of Swalwell’s appointment to the committee.
Swalwell has denied any wrongdoing in his relationship with Fang, which he says ended immediately after he was informed of her purported ties to China. He has since said the leaking of the relationship is part of a revenge campaign by the Trump administration.
