Swalwell Sees Personal Vendetta In Fbi Probe

Rep. Eric Swalwell blasted the Trump administration as “laughable” and with a “ lack of imagination” for reportedly seeking to release a years-old investigative file about him that resulted in no criminal charges — a sign, he said, the president was threatened by the Democrat’s campaign for California governor.

“MAGA world has tried to smear me the whole way through on this,” Swalwell said in an interview Sunday. “We’re consistently in the lead on this race. We’re running to be — I would say — a continuation of the fighter-protector that Governor Newsom has been. And they see it as a threat. So they’re going to try and go back and run a play that has not worked for the last 10 years.”

The Washington Post reported this weekend that FBI Director Kash Patel is pushing to release the case files pertaining to Swalwell’s association with Christine Fang, also known as Fang Fang, who is a suspected Chinese intelligence operative who cultivated ties with American politicians from 2011 to 2015, including fundraising for Swalwell’s 2014 reelection campaign. Swalwell, who was not accused of wrongdoing, cut off ties from Fang after the FBI alerted him to concerns she was a spy.

The House Ethics Committee launched a two-year probe into Swalwell’s links to Fang, which Republican committee leaders closed in 2023 without taking action. Still, President Donald Trump, Patel and other conservative personalities have continued to accuse the Congress member of having an inappropriate relationship with a foreign spy.

The escalation in Swalwell’s hostilities with the Trump administration dovetails with the Congress member’s central pitch to voters in the California governor’s race – that he has been a leading antagonist to a president who is broadly unpopular in the state.

California voters “should ask themselves, ‘why would the president target me?’” Swalwell said. “And the reason is it’s not insignificant or accidental. It’s because I have gone on offense in every way.”Swalwell said he learned the FBI was working to release the files when the Post reached out for comment and has not heard from the agency or administration officials. He said he had been prepared for the administration making retaliatory moves, given its efforts to investigate and prosecute other Trump foes, including New York Attorney General Tish James and former FBI Director James Comey. Last fall, a Trump housing official referred Swalwell to the Department of Justice for investigation of potential mortgage fraud, but no charges have been brought.

While Swalwell dismissed such moves as “predictable,” he said he was surprised that law enforcement agents were raising alarms about Patel’s actions to the media.

“I was on the Intel Committee for eight years – they don’t do that,” Swalwell said of current FBI agents. “They do not go outside of the four walls of the secure building that they work in. And so the fact that it’s even being reported on shows how concerned people are inside the building that they are now crossing lines that they’ve never crossed before.”

A spokesperson for the FBI did not respond to requests for comment.

While Swalwell sought to brush off the FBI’s reported moves as meritless bullying, he warned the deviation from the agency’s norms could have a wider impact.

“Why would anybody now who is in politics help them, if it would just be weaponized against them?” he asked. He said the report also raised questions about the agency’s priorities amid the ongoing conflict with Iran and on the cusp of Congress considering reauthorization of the agency’s surveillance power.