Seventeen House Republicans called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to remove Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., from the House Intelligence Committee after it was reported that he had close ties to an alleged Chinese agent.
Axios reported last week that Christine Fang, an alleged Chinese spy, got so close to Swalwell that federal investigators had to step in five years ago and alert the congressman.
Swalwell reportedly cut off contact with Fang, but he did not publicly reveal his ties to Fang until they were discovered by the media.
“Rep. Swalwell withheld information for five years from the House Intelligence Committee about an ongoing Chinese espionage operation targeted at him and his own colleagues,” the Republicans wrote to Pelosi. “Rep. Swalwell kept this information to himself while repeatedly using his position on House Intelligence Committee to peddle damaging and baseless conspiracies about President Donald Trump’s unproven ties to Russia for years and still refuses to comment fully on the extent and nature of his relationship with the Chinese Communist Party spy exposed in Axios’ bombshell report.”
The House Intelligence Committee “handles some of the most sensitive information our government possesses — information critical to our national defense,” the Republicans continued. “As such, we urge you to immediately remove Rep. Swalwell from his position on the House Intelligence Committee.”
Pelosi initially defended Swalwell after the Axios report, telling reporters that she didn’t “have any concern about Mr. Swalwell.”
She also slammed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., for suggesting Swalwell should lose his seat on the House Intelligence Committee.
“I do think that it is unfortunate that Mr. McCarthy is trying to make an issue of this,” she said. “But you know what he’s trying to do, he’s trying to deflect attention from the fact that he has QAnon in his delegation over there.”
