On Wednesday, Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell appeared on “The View,” denying any wrongdoing in his reported relationship with alleged Chinese spy Christine Fang, better known as “Fang Fang,” and claiming that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s move to remove him from the House Intelligence Committee was “political vengeance.”
McCarthy stated that Swalwell’s alleged ties to Fang, who reportedly worked in the California Bay Area on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party’s Ministry of State Security, the country’s internal spy agency, was grounds for his removal from the committee. Fang allegedly assisted the representative’s 2014 reelection campaign through fundraising, and was later an intern in his congressional office.
“The View” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin discussed McCarthy’s recent remark that Swalwell should not serve on any committee, asking for his opinion.
“First and foremost, and you don’t have to take my word for it, take the FBI’s word for it … when they told me who [Fang Fang was] … I did everything that I hoped everyone would do, which was to cooperate and help the FBI, and she was removed,” the representative said. “By the way, Speaker Boehner was briefed about this, never sought to remove me from the [Intelligence] Committee. Devin Nunes, who was chair of the Intelligence Committee, was briefed about this.”
“And Donald Trump, who would later find out about this when he was president, with the greatest access to classified information of anyone who walks the earth, if he could’ve embarrassed me by showing any wrongdoing, after all the names he’s called me, he would’ve,” Swalwell continued. “And today, The Washington Post fact checker … Glenn Kessler gave Kevin McCarthy four Pinocchios for his claims about this. So, it looks to me like political vengeance.”
Watch:
The-View-Host-Confronts-Eric-Swalwell-Over-Alleged-Fang-Fang-Relationship
Last week, McCarthy told reporters that an FBI briefing on Swalwell’s position on the Intelligence Committee “jeopardized” the nation’s national security, also accusing Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) of openly lying about the now-discredited Steele dossier, a document compiled by former MI6 agent Christopher Steele alleging former President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia.
McCarthy also made comments on Ilhan Omar’s position on the Foreign Affairs Committee, arguing that she should not serve on the panel due to past antisemitic remarks.
“Have you asked the questions about Swalwell? Not only was he getting a clearance, he was inside an intel committee. He had more information than the majority of all the members. Did you ever raise that issue? No, but you should’ve,” McCarthy told reporters. “The only way that they even knew” about the security risks associated with Swalwell “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.’ And they kept him on. That jeopardized all of us.”
Kessler wrote in a Wednesday article for The Washington Post that there is “no evidence [Swalwell] did anything wrong,” citing an Axios article from 2000, detailing the relationship between Swalwell and Fang and claiming that Swalwell “immediately cut ties” with the alleged spy after the FBI and other House members briefed him on its concerns about her identity.
Fang fled the U.S. in 2015 when the FBI investigated her relationship with the CCP. It is unclear if Fang obtained or returned classified information to China.
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