The White House Government Transparency Task Force declassified FBI memos regarding disgraced former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and suspected Chinese spy Christine Fang, aka “Fang Fang.”
“This case involves a sensitive investigative matter in that one of the subjects is a sitting U.S. Congressman,” wrote the FBI.
The FBI opened a predicated investigation, which the agency carries “out to detect, obtain information about, or prevent or protect against federal crimes or threats to the national security or to collect foreign intelligence.”
These investigations need more than a “hunch” to receive approval. It requires a “reasonable indication” that a crime took place.
“This investigation is predicated on information that internships in Congressman Eric Swalwell’s offices were promised in exchange for campaign contributions,” according to the memo. “As part of the scheme to purchase internships, campaign contributions were conduited through third parties to mask the true identity of the donor and in some cases made by foreign nationals in violation of federal criminal law.”
FBI agents may use electronic surveillance and other intrusive methods during the investigation.
Just The News summarized the most damning information:
- The FBI initially wanted to investigate the congressman for a bribery scheme in which he exchanged donations from Fang for her planting interns in his office, but eventually decided to narrow the case to seek criminal charges only against Fang for making illegal donations to the California Democrat through conduits.
- Swalwell admitted to having sex with Fang, his staff placing Fang’s interns in Congress and not having a strong enough campaign finance system to detect the straw donations she allegedly passed through U.S.-citizen conduits.
- The Justice Department declined to prosecute Fang despite strong evidence of the illicit donations after she fled the U.S. as the FBI began interviewing her associates and raided her home. The early steps in the investigation were overseen in part by controversial prosecutor Jack Smith, who would later pursue Donald Trump on criminal charges.
- The FBI was recruiting Fang to be a confidential informant through an undercover agent, assigned her the code name Rusty Thumbs, planned to hire her through a cutout company and was still evaluating her suitability as a confidential human source when they discovered her alleged criminal behavior.
- The FBI knew early on during the recruitment that Fang was tied to China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), Beijing’s notorious intelligence service. The bureau also identified her parents as MSS agents, knew she was raising money for California Democrats and was willing to use sex as a means of getting ahead in the world of U.S. politics.
The physical relationship between Swalwell and Fang began in 2012:
Swalwell had a drink with Fang a couple weeks after they first met in 2012. He had physical relations with Fang on a handful of occasions, but never dated her or had a romantic relationship. March 2015 was the last time Swalwell had physical relations with Fang. Swalwell considered their physical relations to be casual, but believed that Fang was interested in closer, romantic relationship.
Swalwell resided at an apartment during a period of time, but the FBI blacked out the dates. Fang visited Swalwell twice:
FANG came to SWALWELL’s apartment twice, both occasions were probably before he was elected into Congress. He does not remember having candles lit while she was there. One night FANG came over late in the evening and started banging on SWALWELL’s door. SWALWELL’s [blacked out] let her in and she and SWALWELL hooked up. FANG left after a couple hours. SWALWELL barely remembers the event because he had taken an Ambien prior to FANG arriving. SWALWELL takes Ambien to help him sleep.
Fang also served as Swalwell’s APAPA (Asian Pacific American Public Affairs) contact. While it’s normal for organizations to have a point of contact, the FBI noted that Swalwell and Fang differed because they “occasionally hooked up and ‘FANG had a thing’ for him.”
Fang asked Swalwell and even his family to travel to China, but the former congressman always said no. The FBI could not find any records of Swalwell or the family taking any trips.
In a memo dated February 8, 2017, the FBI concluded that it’s investigation at that point did not find any violations committed by Swalwell.
Axios reported on Fang Fang in 2020, detailing her efforts to target “up-and-coming politicians in the Bay Area and across the country who had the potential to make it big on the national stage.”
Fang Fang targeted California politicians between 2011 and 2015, including Swalwell.
Fang sunk her teeth into Swalwell “when he was a councilmember for Dublin City, California.” US officials traced her earliest engagement to him “through the Chinese Student Association,” which makes sense. Axios wrote that people considered Swalwell’s 2012 bid a long shot, so he relied on support from Asian Americans.
I don’t see any mention of a sexual or romantic relationship between Fang and Swalwell in the Axios report.
Once the FBI alerted Swalwell about Fang, he immediately cut ties with her. No one has accused him of any wrongdoing.
The FBI told Swalwell about Fang in 2015 during a “defensive briefing.”
The Axios report mentioned that Fang “engaged in sexual or romantic relationships with at least two mayors of Midwestern cities over a period of about three years, according to one U.S. intelligence official and one former elected official.”
The FBI also tried to recruit Fang and turn her into an informant to gain information how the Chinese try to influence public officials.
It seems, though, that the process to recruit Fang led to the discovery of “violations of campaign finance statutes perpetrated by Fang Fang.”
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