FBI Director Kash Patel is trying to resurrect an investigation into a suspected Chinese spy who laid a ‘honey trap’ for Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell as he campaigns for California governor.
The Washington Post reported Saturday that Patel is trying to release files on the investigation, citing three sources familiar with the effort.
On Monday, Swalwell’s legal team demanded that the FBI halt any release of the documents and threatened to pursue legal action if the bureau didn’t agree to do so, the Post said.
It would be highly unusual for the FBI to release files from an investigation that didn’t result in charges and there’s been no evidence of wrongdoing on Swalwell’s part.
What Swalwell has done is criticize President Donald Trump and serve as an impeachment manager amid the President’s second impeachment, which revolved around his role in the January 6 Capitol attack.
The Democratic congressman was listed as one of Patel’s ‘government gangsters’ in the FBI Director’s 2023 book.
The FBI investigation looked into Swalwell’s relationship with suspected Chinese intelligence official Christine Fang or ‘Fang Fang,’ who courted the congressman and other California politicians from 2011 to 2015.
Fang first reached out to Swalwell during his first Congressional run in 2012 and helped with fundraising during the 2014 cycle. The Post also said that she helped place an intern in Swalwell’s office.
FBI Director Kash Patel (left) is pushing to have files released from an investigation into Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell (right), who was targeted in a ‘honey trap’ by an alleged Chinese spy named Fang Fang
Christine Fang or Fang Fang courted California politicians and raised money for Representative Eric Swalwell’s Congressional campaigns, until authorities alerted Swalwell that she was a suspected Chinese spy
Beyond California, Fang allegedly had romantic or sexual relationships with at least two Midwestern mayors, Axios reported in December 2020.
When the story broke, the President’s son Donald Trump Jr also accused Swalwell of having a sexual relationship with Fang – of which there is no evidence.
‘So Rep Swalwell who spent years saying I was an agent of Russia was literally sleeping with a Chinese spy at the time,’ Trump Jr posted to Twitter in December 2020.
By that time, Swalwell had cut off ties to Fang, having been alerted by federal authorities of her problematic behavior in 2015.
The FBI found no evidence to charge Swalwell with wrongdoing and in 2023, the GOP-controlled House Ethics Committee closed a two-year probe into the Democrat, deciding to ‘take no further action,’ the Post reported.
But with Patel, a top Trump ally, atop the FBI, the case is seeing new life.
Patel has reassigned multiple agents in San Francisco to work on the Swalwell case and top FBI leaders have discussed sending agents to China to talk to Fang, in order to see if she has damaging information about the Democratic gubernatorial hopeful, the newspaper reported.
The FBI officials also floated giving Fang a US visa in exchange for information, the Post said.
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Representative Eric Swalwell (left) with Christine Fang (right) an alleged Chinese spy. The FBI previously investigated their relationship but never charged Swalwell with a crime. Now FBI Director Kash Patel is looking to release files from the probe as Swalwell runs for governor
Representative Eric Swalwell speaks at the California Democratic Party State Convention in San Francisco in February. He’s pushed that FBI Director Kash Patel’s moves are politically motivated
Giving a US visa to a suspected spy from a foreign adversary would also be a highly unusual move.
The FBI pushed back on the optics of a refreshed investigation looking politically motivated.
‘The contentions in this story are incorrect,’ an FBI spokesperson told the Post. ‘This FBI, being the most transparent in history, prepares documents for numerous different reasons, including for release to different agencies and departments to further review investigations that may have been opened under previous administrations.’
Swalwell is a top candidate in a crowded field to replace term-limited California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Currently two Republicans are topping the polls, due to the large number of Democratic candidates splitting the vote.
The primary is June 2.
In a statement to the Post, Swalwell hit back alleging campaign interference.
‘We are at war. Gas prices are soaring. And the threats against the homeland are on the rise. But instead of concentrating on the issues most important to this country, Donald Trump and Kash Patel have decided to continue their revenge tour and to interfere in the California governor’s election,’ Swalwell said. ‘They believe they will get a servant in Sacramento.’
A long-held Department of Justice policy has instructed the FBI to refrain from taking public steps in a probe against a political candidates in the 60 days before an election, though it’s not enshrined in law.
Swalwell’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Mail.
