Former California representative Eric Swalwell (who resigned earlier this year amid sexual misconduct allegations) previously admitted that he had sex with a Chinese spy, according to new documents released Monday by the White House Transparency Task Force.
According to reporting on the documents from The Hill, Swalwell told the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2015 that he met a woman named Christine Fang at an event recognizing the Chinese American community in 2012. Fang is a suspected spy who is also known as Fang Fang, Pleasanton Weekly noted.
An FBI probe investigated whether Fang made illegal campaign contributions in exchange for internships in Swalwell’s offices between 2014 and 2017. While found no evidence of a quid pro quo exchange between Fang and Swalwell or his office, it “determined she violated other criminal laws, including international bulk cash smuggling and acting as an unregistered foreign agent,” said The Hill.
Swalwell said that he and Fang had physical relations “on a handful of occasions,” but that he “never dated her or had a romantic relationship,” per the outlet. He said that he “hooked up” with Fang in then early days of his political career, Pleasanton Weekly said.
A native of Sac City, Iowa, who moved and graduated high school there before attending college and law school in Maryland, was elected to Congress in 2012, according to his government biography. Before that, he worked as an Almada County protector and deputy district attorney.
In 2020, Axios revealed in an exclusive report that Fang targeted up and coming politicians, including Swalwell. His office said in a statement to the outlet that he had not seen Fang in “nearly six years.”
“Fang took part in fundraising activity for Swalwell’s 2014 re-election campaign, according to a Bay Area political operative and a current U.S. intelligence official,” said the report. “Swalwell’s office was directly aware of these activities on its behalf, the political operative said. That same political operative, who witnessed Fang fundraising on Swalwell's behalf, found no evidence of illegal contributions.”
Fang has left the U.S. and has been barred from reentry, per documents cited by The Hill. Officials had determined prosecution was “non-viable due to national security reasons,” the outlet added.
This spring, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a former Swalwell staffer alleged that he sexually assaulted her twice. Shortly after, he announced that he would resign from Congress. Pleasanton Weekly noted that the files about his connection to Fang were declassified “the day before the special election to succeed the now-disgraced former Tri-Valley congressman, a tense campaign between Democrats Aisha Wahab and Melissa Hernandez.”
