Newly released FBI records detailing Rep. Eric Swalwell’s relationship with suspected Chinese intelligence operative Fang Fang are renewing questions about why Democratic leaders kept him on the House Intelligence Committee after receiving counterintelligence briefings years earlier.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Newly declassified FBI records are bringing fresh scrutiny to Democratic leaders’ decision to keep Rep. Eric Swalwell on the House Intelligence Committee after they were warned about his relationship with Fang “Christine” Fang, a Chinese national whom federal investigators suspected of ties to Beijing’s intelligence service.
The files, released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force after having previously been declassified by President Donald Trump, contain details that were not publicly known when the controversy surrounding Swalwell and Fang first erupted in 2020, according to Just the News.
Among the disclosures are FBI interview summaries indicating that Swalwell acknowledged having a sexual relationship with Fang, that his staff facilitated internships involving people she recommended and that his campaign lacked controls strong enough to identify alleged straw donations routed through U.S. citizens.
The records also show that investigators believed Fang had connections to China’s Ministry of State Security, or MSS, and identified her parents as intelligence officers for the agency.
Swalwell has denied wrongdoing throughout the controversy. He has maintained that he cooperated fully with the FBI, stopped communicating with Fang after receiving a counterintelligence briefing and was never charged with a crime.
The FBI ultimately narrowed its investigation away from Swalwell and toward Fang, seeking potential criminal charges against her involving alleged illegal campaign contributions, according to the newly released material.
Swalwell’s attorney, Sara Azari, said Monday that the documents reinforce his longstanding position that he committed no offense.
“There is nothing new here. The government’s own memorandum confirms what Congressman Swalwell has said for more than a decade: he did nothing wrong, and there was no basis to charge him with any offense,” Azari said.
“What is new and deeply concerning is the apparent use of federal law enforcement information to punish or embarrass an outspoken critic of the current administration. An investigation that produced no charges and no finding of wrongdoing should not be resurrected years later as a vehicle for political retaliation.”
The newly disclosed information nevertheless provides additional context for a political battle that began after Fang’s activities first became public.
FBI Probe Began Years Before Public Disclosure
The FBI opened an assessment involving Swalwell and Fang on March 17, 2014, under the codename “Freshman Fifteen,” according to a declassified Interim Authority memorandum described in a separate Just the News report.
The assessment was reviewed by FBI headquarters and the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section.
Investigators initially examined allegations that Swalwell’s congressional offices provided internships in exchange for campaign donations allegedly facilitated by Fang.
The FBI identified Fang as the person suspected of arranging the transactions and believed she used U.S.-citizen conduits to pass through contributions that otherwise could not legally have been made by a foreign national.
According to the files, investigators at one point considered a possible bribery theory involving Swalwell before ultimately narrowing their criminal focus to Fang and the alleged donation scheme.
The Justice Department ultimately declined to prosecute Fang.
She had already left the United States as the FBI began interviewing people connected to her and searched her residence, according to the records.
The early stages of the investigation were overseen in part by prosecutor Jack Smith, who years later would bring federal criminal cases against Trump.
FBI Records Describe Sexual Relationship
The newly released files also contain direct descriptions of Swalwell’s relationship with Fang.
According to an FBI summary of Swalwell’s 2015 interview, the congressman acknowledged having “physical relations with Fang” on multiple occasions.
During another FBI interview in 2016, Swalwell described an episode in which Fang arrived at his residence and the two “hooked up,” according to the interview summary released by the White House.
The files further show that FBI officials believed Fang used romantic or sexual relationships as one method of gaining access and influence in American political circles.
Fang’s activities were first brought to broad public attention by a 2020 Axios investigation.
Axios reported that U.S. officials believed Fang spent years cultivating politicians in the San Francisco Bay Area through campaign fundraising, networking, personal relationships and, in some cases, romantic or sexual relationships.
Swalwell was described as one of Fang’s most significant political targets.
The FBI files released this week add substantially more detail to that earlier reporting.
Investigators Believed Fang Had MSS Connections
The records indicate that investigators suspected Fang’s connections to Chinese intelligence early in the inquiry.
One FBI memorandum identified Fang’s parents as “known MSS intelligence officers.”
Agents also believed Fang herself had ties to the Ministry of State Security.
Before the broader investigation involving Swalwell developed, the FBI had actually been trying to recruit Fang as a confidential source on Chinese influence operations inside the United States, according to the records.
Agents assigned her the codename “Rusty Thumbs.”
The bureau reportedly planned to employ her through a cutout company and was still assessing her suitability as a confidential human source when investigators discovered conduct they believed could constitute criminal activity.
At the same time, according to the files, Fang was raising money for California Democrats and was believed by investigators to be willing to use sexual relationships to advance her political access.
Pelosi Was Briefed but Kept Swalwell on Committee
The question now receiving renewed attention is what Democratic congressional leaders knew and why they continued allowing Swalwell to serve on the House Intelligence Committee.
After the Fang controversy became public in 2020, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi acknowledged that Democratic leadership had been briefed about the matter years earlier.
Pelosi confirmed in December 2020 that congressional leaders were first informed about Fang in the spring of 2015, shortly after Democrats had nominated Swalwell to the Intelligence Committee.
“When that was made known to the members of Congress, it was over. That was the end of any communication with those people,” Pelosi said.
She emphasized that Republican congressional leaders received the same information.
“We knew when they knew,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi nevertheless rejected the argument that Swalwell posed an unacceptable security risk.
Asked about the matter, she told reporters that she did not “have any concerns about Mr. Swalwell.”
Democratic leaders subsequently kept him on the Intelligence Committee.
McCarthy Said FBI Briefing Changed His View
Kevin McCarthy, then the Republican House minority leader and a fellow California lawmaker, reached a sharply different conclusion.
Following the 2020 disclosures, McCarthy said the allegations “disqualified” Swalwell from serving on the Intelligence Committee and called for his removal.
“Swalwell is a national security liability,” McCarthy wrote on social media.
McCarthy then requested an FBI briefing about the underlying investigation.
Pelosi also attended that briefing.
Afterward, McCarthy said the information reinforced his belief that Swalwell should not remain on the panel.
“One thing I know for sure — I had questions about whether he should. That’s the one question that was answered, he should not be on Intel,” McCarthy told reporters.
The details of what congressional leaders were told remained largely inaccessible to the public at the time.
The newly released FBI records now reveal some of the information investigators possessed during that period.
House Rejected Attempt to Remove Swalwell
Pelosi reappointed Swalwell to the Intelligence Committee when a new Congress convened in 2021.
McCarthy responded by introducing a resolution seeking his removal.
The House rejected the measure largely along party lines, with 200 representatives voting for removal and 218 voting against it.
Then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff defended Swalwell during the dispute.
Schiff said in a letter that Swalwell was a “trusted member of our committee” and had “acted fully in accordance with his responsibilities” after receiving the FBI’s 2015 defensive counterintelligence briefing.
Pelosi’s office did not respond to a request for comment from Just the News concerning the newly released records.
Republicans Removed Swalwell After Taking House
The controversy resurfaced after Republicans won control of the House in the 2022 elections.
When McCarthy became speaker in 2023, he prevented Swalwell from returning to the Intelligence Committee, again citing the FBI briefing and Fang investigation.
“If you got the briefing I got from the FBI, you wouldn’t have Swalwell on any committee,” McCarthy said at the time.
“One thing I know for sure – I had questions about whether he should. That’s the one question that was answered, he should not be on Intel.”
McCarthy accused Democratic leaders of exposing Congress to unnecessary risk by allowing Swalwell to continue serving on a committee whose members have access to highly sensitive classified intelligence.
“The only way that they even knew it came forward is when they went to nominate him to the Intel Committee. And then the FBI came and told the leadership then, he’s got a problem,” McCarthy said. “And they kept him on. That jeopardized all of us.”
Files Detail Alleged Donations and Congressional Internships
The declassified investigative records include several allegations that had remained largely hidden from public view.
According to the FBI material, investigators initially considered whether Swalwell had participated in a bribery arrangement in which campaign donations arranged by Fang were exchanged for internships in his congressional offices.
The FBI later shifted its focus and sought potential criminal charges only against Fang for allegedly funneling illegal foreign donations through U.S.-citizen intermediaries.
Swalwell acknowledged to agents that his staff had helped place interns connected to Fang and said his campaign-finance procedures were not sophisticated enough to detect the alleged straw donations, according to the records.
Those admissions did not result in criminal charges against Swalwell.
The Justice Department also declined to prosecute Fang after she departed the country.
The public can now review the two major collections of FBI records released by the White House: the FBI 56D-SF-4662117 Packet and the FBI chronological investigation packet.
Those records provide the clearest public account yet of what federal investigators knew about Fang, Swalwell and the broader counterintelligence concerns that prompted FBI briefings to congressional leadership.
They also sharpen the political dispute over whether Democratic leaders were justified in keeping Swalwell on the Intelligence Committee after learning about the investigation.
Swalwell’s defenders emphasize that he cooperated with federal authorities, broke off contact after being warned about Fang and was never charged with wrongdoing.
Republicans, including McCarthy, have argued that the counterintelligence risk alone was sufficient to make continued service on the Intelligence Committee inappropriate.
The newly declassified files do not resolve that political disagreement, but they disclose information that was unavailable when Pelosi and other Democratic leaders chose to keep Swalwell on the panel — including the FBI’s suspicions about Fang’s MSS connections, its investigation of alleged foreign-linked campaign donations, the placement of interns associated with Fang and Swalwell’s own statements to agents about their intimate relationship.
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