A new story involving an alleged Chinese spy and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) surfaced Thursday afternoon, prompting the lawmaker to lash out at critics online as he faces growing scrutiny.
The alleged spy, Chinese national Christine Fang, “targeted up-and-coming local politicians in the Bay Area and across the country who had the potential to make it big on the national stage” through “campaign fundraising, extensive networking, personal charisma, and romantic or sexual relationships,” Axios reported at the start of the week in the first spy story involving Swalwell. “Amid a widening counterintelligence probe, federal investigators became so alarmed by Fang’s behavior and activities that around 2015 they alerted Swalwell to their concerns — giving him what is known as a defensive briefing. Swalwell immediately cut off all ties to Fang, according to a current U.S. intelligence official, and he has not been accused of any wrongdoing.”
The story set off a wave of news reports about Swalwell’s interactions with Fang, including a Fox News report that indicated that “U.S. Intelligence officials believe Fang had a sexual relationship with Eric Swalwell.”
A second story involving Swalwell and an alleged Chinese spy surfaced yesterday afternoon. Swalwell “spoke at a same event in 2013 as another alleged Chinese agent who worked for decades for California Sen. Dianne Feinstein,” The Daily Caller reported. “The event was hosted by the group led by Christine Fang, a Chinese national whose relationship with Swalwell was the subject of a report published this week by Axios. There is no indication of wrongdoing on Swalwell’s part.”
Senior Trump Campaign Adviser Jason Miller tweeted out a link to the news article and included the title, to which Swalwell responded: “Just a reminder: pay your child support @JasonMillerinDC. Kids shouldn’t go hungry because Dad is a deadbeat. Feed them for the holidays.”
Republican political strategist Arthur Schwartz responded to Swalwell: “You fool. The CCP saw you as the single biggest dope in California and they compromised you by putting you in bed with a Chinese communist spy. You’re worse than even Hunter Biden if that’s possible. You did the bang bang with Fang Fang and now your political career is finished.”
You fool. The CCP saw you as the single biggest dope in California and they compromised you by putting you in bed with a Chinese communist spy. You’re worse than even Hunter Biden if that’s possible. You did the bang bang with Fang Fang and now your political career is finished. https://t.co/hrQaxtXWJZ
— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) December 11, 2020
Radio host Dan O’Donnell added: “Hey, not to be that guy, but is Fang Fang single? I mean, you wouldn’t mind if I also…gave up classified secrets to the Chinese government for a period of several years, would you?”
Hey, not to be that guy, but is Fang Fang single? I mean, you wouldn’t mind if I also…gave up classified secrets to the Chinese government for a period of several years, would you?
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) December 11, 2020
Washington Post columnist Mark Thiessen wrote on Thursday that there was a “certain poetic justice in the news that Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) had a close relationship with an alleged Chinese spy, Christine Fang.”
“Swalwell was one of the most prominent purveyors of the now-disproven conspiracy theory that Donald Trump had colluded with Russian intelligence to steal the 2016 election,” he added. “Yet it turns out that all the while Swalwell was spreading those lies, he knew that he had been cultivated and funded by a suspected Chinese intelligence operative.”