By Travis Gillmore
Contributing Writer
WASHINGTON — Nearly 150 pages of newly declassified FBI documents paint the clearest picture yet of the relationship between a suspected Chinese Communist Party spy and a U.S. congressman, including sexual seduction, illicit campaign donations, and the placement of interns used to influence American politics.
Former Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., who resigned from his role in April after sexual allegations involving a former staffer surfaced, is the focus of the files released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force on Monday.
New details outline his dealings with suspected spy Christine Fang, who went by Fang Fang, including admissions from Swalwell that he had a sexual relationship with her before he was elected to Congress. Swalwell did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
Swalwell told FBI agents that Fang showed up at his apartment unannounced, “probably” before he was elected to Congress, and the two “hooked up.” In a subsequent interview, one of the three recorded in the documents, he told the FBI they were last physically intimate in March 2015, describing the relationship as casual and non-romantic.
“He made significant admissions in those interviews, including [that] he did have a sexual relationship with Fang,” a senior administration official told reporters on Sunday.
Swalwell has never publicly admitted the relationship.
He told agents Fang never asked for, nor was given, classified information, and he never provided favors in exchange for their interactions.
“China’s infiltration into our system is persistent, and it looks for many different avenues, not just one,” the official said, noting that the Chinese regime pursues multiple avenues to influence the United States and describing the pages as “the most illuminating documents” from the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into Swalwell’s relationship with Fang.
“This gives us a case study of just how China was trying to infiltrate the political system.”
The official said that, going forward, “Congress will have some better knowledge” regarding the names and the CCP’s tactics, such as the use of money, sex and interns to influence Congress.
Fang later used her influence to get interns hired to work on Swalwell’s campaign and in his political office, according to the documents.
Investigators leading Operation Freshman Fifteen, looking into the congressman’s campaign finances, initially believed the interns were part of a quid pro quo agreement and approved a $1,000 donation from undercover agents to Swalwell’s campaign through Fang as part of the ruse to uncover criminal activity. But after failing to find evidence within the allotted timeframe, they closed the investigation.
“In this case here, you see an effort to get close to a brand-new freshman congressman by a woman who had clear Chinese intelligence ties,” the official said, emphasizing Fang’s ability to compromise Swalwell through seduction and illegal straw donations to his campaign.
Rusty Thumbs
Files also reveal an FBI operation to recruit Fang, code-named Rusty Thumbs, that began in 2013. She is identified in the documents as connected to the CCP’s Ministry of State Security, the regime’s equivalent of the CIA.
The FBI attempted to lead her as a blind double agent, with her unaware of the ploy, to potentially gather information about Chinese intelligence activities.
After meeting with Fang on multiple occasions, an undercover FBI agent presented her with an employment contract for a fictitious company, which she signed in June 2013. The agreement directed her to complete political tasks and provide “cultural expertise.”
Agents convinced Fang to submit a resume for potential employment, a document that revealed she had served as a flight attendant aboard Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s official aircraft, the Chinese version of Air Force One, during her time with Air China from May 2002 to September 2009.
CCP Ties
As a result of the inquiry, the FBI learned that Fang was connected to the Chinese regime’s intelligence service, and her parents were both senior officers. She repeatedly downplayed her parents’ positions in the CCP’s hierarchy, telling agents they would be retiring soon.
Fang told others her contacts in China were like “royalty” and included a family member of Mao Zedong, according to the documents.
“She was prepared to use sex as a way of gaining entry into the American political system, and that she was also interested in making donations as a way of gaining influence inside the circles,” the official said.
Efforts to recruit her were disbanded when evidence revealed she was actively influencing campaign donations and hirings, and a criminal investigation was subsequently opened, according to the documents.
Fang also used her influence with a winery owner to secure reduced airfare for herself and associates. The files include copies of passports collected by investigators.
Illicit Campaign Contributions
Multiple confidential human sources provided the FBI with details of Fang offering to reimburse them for donations made to Swalwell’s campaign.
Only American citizens are permitted to donate to political campaigns, and the use of straw donations is a federal crime.
Copies of cleared checks for amounts of up to $60,000 each are included as evidence of impropriety in the documents.
“A clear crime was committed here,” the official said.
Swalwell also acknowledged that some individuals on his campaign finance team were less than diligent with bookkeeping responsibilities.
Looking for Accountability
Fang, already suspicious that U.S. intelligence agencies were monitoring her, fled the country after her apartment was raided in the Bay Area, and the Department of Justice later declined to prosecute, citing an unlikelihood of her returning to the United States.
The administration official noted that many are “wondering why they would not have detained her while they did the raid and the interviews.”
“If you have a foreigner who you think has engaged in criminal behavior, and you’re about to escalate against them, particularly someone who has ties to China, it’s unusual to do the interviews and the raid before you detain that person because it raises the chance that someone might flee the country, whether that was intentional or just a sequence that turned out to be non-beneficial to the FBI,” the official said.
“The end consequence of it was [that] it allowed Fang not only to escape the country, but ultimately, to escape accountability for clear, illegal and illicit foreign donations.”
Investigations are pursuing leads that Chinese spy efforts potentially infiltrated other federal and state political offices using planted interns, the official said.
Fang’s connections in Democratic Party circles in California, particularly the Bay Area, were extensive, including many mayors and politicians, according to the documents.
Task force members are working to identify reports related to Fang’s potential ties with the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., or others, the official told reporters.
Legal accountability is challenging, given that the information is more than 10 years old and thus exceeds the statute of limitations. Jack Smith, who oversaw the DOJ’s public integrity unit, was among the prosecutors who decided not to pursue charges at the time, according to the official.
“Our job, of course, is to get the transparency so that the people who are in a position to get accountability are aware of this evidence,” the official said. “And so now that that’s the case.”
He added that “embarrassment” and “political affiliation” are likely reasons the information was kept out of the public’s view by prior administrations.
