A group of House Republicans, led by some of the most high-profile members of the caucus, called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to remove Rep. Eric Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee following revelations that he was targeted by a suspected Chinese spy.
“We write to you today out of concern with Congressman Eric Swalwell’s reported, close contacts with a Chinese Communist Party spy recently reported by Axios. Because of Rep. Swalwell’s position on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, his close interactions with Chinese intelligence services, however unintentional they may be, are an unacceptable national security risk,” the Republicans told Pelosi in a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner. “HPSCI handles some of the most sensitive information our government possesses — information critical to our national defense. As such, we urge you to immediately remove Rep. Swalwell from his position on the House Intelligence Committee.”
Fang Fang, also known as Christine Fang, a Chinese national believed to be working with China’s Ministry of State Security, conducted an extensive political influence operation between 2011 and 2015 on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party in the Bay Area and elsewhere, according to a report by Axios that cited U.S. intelligence officials. Swalwell’s association with Fang, which he has refused to describe in detail, reportedly lasted from 2011 to 2015. Swalwell was elected to the House in 2012.
Fang is suspected of targeting other politicians in California and elsewhere in the country, including romantic relationships with at least two Midwestern mayors who have not been publicly identified. Fang suddenly left the United States in the summer of 2015. She reportedly acted as a financial bundler for Swalwell and helped place at least one intern in his congressional office.
Swalwell, who married for the second time in 2016, became a member of the House Intelligence Committee in early 2015 and unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019.
The letter was signed by Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana (a member of the House Armed Services Committee), Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana (the House minority whip), Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia, and a dozen others.
The House GOP letter pointed to Pelosi’s treatment of then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions in early 2017, when she called for him to recuse himself from overseeing the Trump-Russia investigation and to resign.
“Attorney General Sessions has never had the credibility to oversee the FBI investigation of senior Trump officials’ ties to the Russians,” Pelosi said in March 2017, adding, “Sessions is not fit to serve as the top law enforcement officer of our country and must resign.”
The House Republicans said Tuesday that “in the end, AG Sessions chose to recuse himself from Robert Mueller’s fruitless, unsubstantiated investigation into the Trump campaign” and “by your own standards, Congressman Swalwell is unfit to serve on the Intelligence Committee.”
Mueller’s report, released in April 2019, said the Russians interfered in 2016 in a “sweeping and systematic fashion,” but the special counsel “did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government” in its meddling efforts.
Last week, Swalwell went on CNN and briefly defended himself. “I was told about this individual by the FBI,” the California Democrat said, adding, “All I did was cooperate.” Swalwell blamed the story on politicized leaks, which he claimed happened because he was a critic of Trump during the impeachment fight — a claim went unchallenged by CNN anchor Jim Sciutto. Axios quickly pushed back against Swalwell’s claims, with its editor in chief saying that “our journalism is independent, nonpartisan, and never politically motivated” and pointing out the congressman never disputed any of the reporting.
“Rep. Swalwell withheld information for five years from the House Intelligence Committee about an ongoing Chinese espionage operation targeted at him and his own colleagues,” the House Republicans told Pelosi. “Obviously, Rep. Swalwell’s interactions with a Chinese spy were more dangerous and unusual than AG Session’s meetings with a Russian diplomat. But to make matters worse, Rep. Swalwell kept this information to himself while repeatedly using his position on HPSCI to peddle damaging and baseless conspiracies about President Donald Trump’s unproven ties to Russia for years and still refuses to comment fully on the extent and nature of his relationship with the Chinese Communist Party spy exposed in Axios’ bombshell report.”
Federal agents carrying out a counterintelligence investigation into Fang “alerted Swalwell to their concerns” in 2015 and provided him a defensive briefing, according to the Axios report. Swalwell “immediately cut off all ties to Fang” and “has not been accused of any wrongdoing,” the report said, citing intelligence sources.
“The House Intelligence Committee is instrumental in overseeing our national effort to counteract our chief global rival’s espionage initiatives; for one of its members to have had an undisclosed relationship with a foreign asset in the manner described by recent reports is unacceptable and dangerous,” the Republicans told Pelosi. “For consistency’s sake, and more importantly, for the sake of our national security, you must remove Rep. Swalwell from his position on HPSCI.”
Swalwell’s office said last week that “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 FB. To protect information that might be classified, he will not participate in your story.”
Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, told Fox Business appearance that Republicans would investigate if Pelosi kept Swalwell on the panel. House Intelligence Committee Republican Elise Stefanik of New York said Swalwell should step down from his spot on the committee because of members’ access to “highly classified briefings, especially when it comes to adversaries like China, like Russia.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called Swalwell a “national security liability” and has said the Democrat should be removed from the intelligence panel.
Pelosi told reporters on Thursday that she does not have “any concern” about Swalwell.
Drew Hammill, a spokesman to Pelosi, previously said: “The Speaker has full confidence in Congressman Swalwell’s service in the Congress and on the Intelligence Committee.”
