“Swalwell considered their physical relations to be casual, but believed that Fang was interested in closer, romantic relationship.”
The FBI obtained evidence that California's Democrat congressman Eric Swalwell was potentially compromised by a Chinese spy with whom he had sexual relations and from whom he allegedly accepted foreign donations. The information was revealed in a memo that was released by the Trump administration on Monday.
The files stem from an investigation that opened in 2014 surrounding allegations that Swalwell would award internships in his office exchange for campaign contributions. Suspected Chinese spy Fang Fang was alleged at the center of the scheme, acting as a facilitator for the internships. The memo also details the relationship between Swalwell and Fang, who is also known as "Christine" Fang.
The memo, obtained by Just the News, states that "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."
The FBI identified Fang as a source of illegal donations to Swalwell's campaign in the memo. She was also identified as the facilitator of the alleged scheme where Swalwell would award internships at his office in exchange for campaign contributions.
“Investigation has revealed Fang ‘Christine’ Fang, a Chinese foreign national residing in the United States, is the facilitator of a scheme to trade access to Swalwell and internships in his congressional office in return for campaign contributions […]” the memo reads. The FBI found evidence that Fang “used conduits to conceal herself as a prohibited Foreign National source" for the illicit campaign contributions "at least twice in 2013 and at least two more times in 2014.”
FBI agents found that the donations in 2013 “trace to Fang herself" and that she was involved as an “illegal source of campaign contributions" for Swalwell's campaign. Swalwell was interviewed in 2015 by the FBI, where he admitted to their sexual encounters. He had a second interview with the FBI in 2016, where the FBI recorded that “SWALWELL viewed anyone that FANG put forward for an internship as coming from" the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Associations, which is an important constituent group in his district. During the interview, he also admitted that he "hooked up" with the suspected Chinese spy when she arrived at his door at one point.
“One night FANG came over late in the evening and started banging on SWALWELL’s door,” the documents state. “SWALWELL let her in and she and SWALWELL hooked up. FANG left after a couple hours.”
Swalwell said that his memory was not clear on all the events that happened because he had taken Ambien to help him sleep.
“SWALWELL barely remembers the event because he had taken an Ambien prior to FANG arriving,” the document stated. “SWALWELL takes Ambien to help him sleep.”
After the multiple interviews with Swalwell, he was found to not have violated federal statute and the probe was reclassified in 2017 to solely focus on Fang's alleged campaign finance law violations.
In May 2015, Fang fled from the country, according to FBI interviews from multiple people close to Fang. After the Bureau interviewed the associates, the investigation into the suspect was officially closed in 2017. The closing memo the investigation said that Fang was found to have violated several laws related to illegal donations and criminal acts. She was barred from returning to the US by the State Department.
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