Former President Donald Trump flipped a report he dubbed “completely false” to chastise Rep. Eric Swalwell over the controversy of him being targeted by Christine Fang, a suspected Chinese spy, several years ago.
A statement issued on Monday evening rejected CNN’s reporting that he denied a meeting at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida requested by Rep. Matt Gaetz, who is facing a federal investigation into sex trafficking allegations, and urged the news outlet to investigate Swalwell instead.
“Fake News CNN, relying on all anonymous sources, meaning they probably made the whole thing up, wrote a very dishonest story claiming Congressman Matt Gaetz asked for a meeting with me at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, and was denied. This is completely false,” the 45th president said in a statement released by Save America, his leadership PAC.
Instead, he recommended CNN look into Swalwell, a California Democrat, and demanded that the congressman be removed from the House Intelligence Committee.
MCCARTHY RESOLUTION WOULD BOOT SWALWELL FROM INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE OVER SUSPECTED CHINESE SPY
“Why doesn’t CNN investigate and write about lightweight Democrat Congressman Eric Swalwell, who had a torrid and physical relationship with the Chinese spy Fang-Fang, but is somehow on the once-prestigious House Intelligence Committee,” Trump said. “Swalwell, who ran for President and dropped out with a record-setting 0% in the polls, has been compromised and is a national security threat to the United States — he should be removed from the Committee immediately!”
This has been a common refrain from Republicans. However, Swalwell was given a defensive briefing by the FBI in 2015, and an FBI official told the San Francisco Chronicle in December that the congressman, who reportedly cut ties with the woman, “was completely cooperative and under no suspicion of wrongdoing.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters in December, shortly after the story about the suspected Chinese spy broke, that she does not have “any concern” about Swalwell.
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Gaetz, who says he won’t resign over “false” sex allegations, is facing a Justice Department investigation as well as an inquiry by the House Ethics Committee.
The 38-year-old congressman, who said the CNN story was a “total lie” and floated a retraction as did Trump adviser Jason Miller, has faced calls from Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California to be removed from the House Judiciary Committee, which has oversight of the Justice Department.
