U.S. REP. ERIC SWALWELL blasted the FBI on Monday following media reports that the agency planned to release investigative files related to his relationship with a fundraiser who was investigated for possible links to Chinese intelligence more than a decade ago.
Swalwell, D-Castro Valley, who is one of the current leaders in the race for California governor, appeared at a brief news conference outside the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco to denounce the potential release of any previous investigations as politically motivated.
He cited reports over the weekend that said President Donald Trump was ordering FBI Director Kash Patel to make the investigation public, which some agents were said to object to.
“The president dreams of a servant in Sacramento,” Swalwell said. “A western White House. But unfortunately for him, our campaign is winning. So, with early voting starting in about a month, Trump and Patel are trying to interfere in the California election.”
The fundraiser, a woman named Christine Fang, who also was known as Fang Fang, was investigated for possible links to China’s Ministry of State Security for activity between 2011 and 2015 that allegedly involved attempts to cultivate relationships with politicians at multiple levels of government, according to a 2020 letter from the House Committee on Oversight and Reform asking the FBI to investigate the links to politicians.
The matter was investigated by the House Committee on Ethics in 2023 and was concluded without any action taken, according to a letter from the committee informing Swalwell of its conclusion.
Swalwell drops civil lawsuit
A campaign spokesperson said the congressman had not been notified directly about the existence of any investigation being reopened, started or released, and was reacting to public media reports over the weekend.
The spokesperson also said that a civil lawsuit the congressman filed against an official at the Federal Housing Finance Agency related to a potential investigation into accusations of Swalwell committing mortgage fraud was recently dropped because the case was no longer being pursued.
Responding to a reporter’s question Monday, Swalwell said he had assisted the FBI with its investigation into Fang, which he said was closed over a decade ago.
“I know the only language this president and his corrupt actors like Kash Patel understand is the language of strength and being on offense.”
Rep. Eric Swalwell
He said he was looking into possible legal action if the investigative files were released.
“I know the only language this president and his corrupt actors like Kash Patel understand is the language of strength and being on offense,” he said.
Swalwell is one of the top polling Democrats running for governor in a crowded primary field. The latest poll from Emerson College Polling has Swalwell atop all named candidates in the field and leading among Democrats. Most voters polled were undecided.
He was endorsed by the California Teachers Association on Sunday.
The congressman has sparred in the past with both Patel and Trump and said the renewed attacks on him were motivated by his rise in the polls.
Swalwell was one of the House prosecutors who argued for Trump’s impeachment in 2021 after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
War of words heats up
In September, Patel yelled at Swalwell that the congressman was a “disgrace to the American people” while being questioned by Swalwell during a contentious committee hearing about Patel’s failure to release the Epstein files, which Congress later passed a law to compel.
Swalwell said Monday that Patel’s time at the FBI would be short-lived, especially if, as he predicted, Democrats win the House majority in November’s elections. He praised the FBI agents that were reportedly whistleblowers and refused to participate in the alleged publication of the investigation.
“In the long history of our bureau, Kash Patel is a temporary employee.” Swalwell said. “But the quiet courage of those agents will outlast him.”
He encouraged anyone in federal law enforcement pressed to take illegal or unethical action to similarly refuse to do so and report it through proper channels to congressmembers who could protect them from future oversight hearings.