Former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell said a “variety” of politicians have been targeted by the Chinese government and received defensive briefings from federal officials.
The staunch Trump ally made an appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show on Wednesday evening along with Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida for a discussion that focused on how years ago Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, was targeted by Christine Fang, a Chinese national believed to be working with China’s Ministry of State Security.
“I can tell you, without giving away too much intelligence, this is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the leverage that China is putting on our politicians. There’s many, many more,” Grenell said.
“There is a variety of mayors, governors, senior people,” he added after Hannity suggested a Biden family connection. “More should be coming out,” Grenell added. “They’ve all received defensive briefings, and there’s a lot more to it.”
Grenell also pushed for the “Gang of Eight,” a bipartisan group of leaders from both parties in the House and Senate with access to classified intelligence, to investigate Swalwell.
“Certainly, acting Chairman Marco Rubio and Chairman Schiff should immediately call the intelligence committees together,” he added. “They should get a confidential, classified briefing on what Eric Swalwell knew and how much did he give away. Because the reality is he spent years downplaying the China threat and overhyping the Russian threat. This is playing exactly into what the Chinese want people to do. They want to be under the radar. Eric Swalwell did exactly what the Chinese wanted.”
Swalwell’s relationship with Fang, which he has refused to describe in detail, lasted from 2011 to 2015. Swalwell was elected to the House in 2012.
Federal agents carrying out a counterintelligence investigation into Fang “alerted Swalwell to their concerns” in 2015 and provided him a defensive briefing, according to Axios, and Swalwell “immediately cut off all ties to Fang” and “has not been accused of any wrongdoing,” the report said, citing intelligence sources. Fang suddenly left the United States in the summer of 2015. That same Axios report also had sources who said Fang carried out romantic relationships with at least two Midwestern mayors, who were not named.
Swalwell became a member of the House Intelligence Committee in early 2015, and unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019. Calling Swalwell a “national security liability,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said the congressman should be disqualified from the intelligence panel. A spokesperson for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Fox News that Pelosi “has full confidence in Congressman Swalwell’s service in the Congress and on the Intelligence Committee.”
Grenell’s successor as President Trump’s spy chief, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, said this month the Chinese Communist Party is conducting a “massive influence campaign” aimed at dozens of members of Congress and their staffs in an effort involving attempted blackmail and bribery.
Editor’s note: This report has been updated to clarify that Eric Swalwell was elected to the House in 2012.
