by WorldTribune Staff, August 19, 2026 Non-AI Real World News
Then-California Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell told investigators in 2015 that he had “hooked up” with Chinese spy Fang Fang, according to newly declassified FBI files.
According to the files, Swalwell stated he barely remembered the encounter because he was on Ambien at the time.
Eric Swalwell and Fang Fang
Top Democrat Party leaders were aware of Swalwell’s affair with the Chinese honeypot but continued to support his being on the House Intelligence Committee.
The White House Government Transparency Task Force released the files that had been previously declassified by President Donald Trump. They show that Swalwell admitted to having sex with Fang, to his staff placing Fang’s interns in Congress, and to not having a strong enough campaign finance system to detect the straw donations she allegedly passed through U.S.-citizen conduits, Just the News reported on Tuesday.
The memos indicate all of this information was possessed by the FBI at the time that it briefed then-Speaker Pelosi in December 2020.
“At the same time that Fang was fundraising for Swalwell and sleeping with him, by his own admission, the files show that the FBI knew Fang was tied to China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), Beijing’s notorious intelligence service. In fact, the investigators specifically identified her parents as MSS agents,” the report said.
When Republicans regained control of the House in 2023, then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy booted Swalwell off the intel committee.
Fang Fang’s efforts to influence U.S. politicians were first reported by Axios in 2020. According to the outlet’s investigation, U.S. officials believed Fang sought to ingratiate herself with local politicians in the San Francisco Bay Area using campaign fundraising, networking, her charisma, and romantic or sexual relationships. Swalwell was identified as among the most significant targets of of the communist spy.
After the Axios story, Pelosi confirmed that Democrat leadership was first briefed on Swalwell’s relationship with Fang in the Spring of 2015, shortly after the party nominated him to the Intelligence Committee. Peosi said that after Congress was made aware, Democrat politicians cut off communication with Fang.
“When that was made known to the members of Congress, it was over. That was the end of any communication with those people,” Pelosi said, adding that Republicans were briefed about the relationship at the same time. “We knew when they knew,” explained Pelosi.
The files provide new details about the Swalwell-Fang connection, including:
• 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.
Swalwell insists he ended the affair and all communications with Fang after the FBI provided him with a defensive briefing about her activities.
“There is nothing new here. The government’s own memorandum confirms what Congressman Swalwell has said for more than a decade: he did nothing wrong, and there was no basis to charge him with any offense,” said Sara Azari, legal counsel for Swalwell, on Monday after the files were released. “What is new and deeply concerning is the apparent use of federal law enforcement information to punish or embarrass an outspoken critic of the current administration. An investigation that produced no charges and no finding of wrongdoing should not be resurrected years later as a vehicle for political retaliation.”
