Swalwell Flip Flops on Transparency as He Fights Release of Chinese Intel Files That Include Him

Rep. Eric Swalwell, a top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and candidate for California governor, relentlessly pressed to release all the Jeffrey Epstein files — even if innocent people were implicated — going so far as to suggest withholding funding to the Justice Department.

“If the president is not implicated, then why not release everything?” Swalwell asked FBI Director Kash Patel in a tense exchange at a congressional hearing late last year that typified his pressure campaign. 

But Swalwell’s tone on unlimited transparency shifted markedly last week when he learned the Trump White House might release a long-secret trove of files showing Chinese infiltrations into American politics and elections dating back more than a decade. 

Those files, Swalwell fears, may include an FBI counterintelligence probe into the congressman’s relationship with a suspected Chinese intelligence asset named Christine Fang, also known as “Fang Fang,” according to a letter his lawyers sent to Patel. Swalwell has consistently denied any wrongdoing in his dealings with Fang, who reportedly helped Swalwell with fundraising and placing an intern in his office during the 2014 campaign cycle. 

Now with his own reputation in the line of fire in a government transparency operation, Swalwell is threatening to sue Patel if the FBI boss complies with a request to send the Fang files to the Trump White House along with other evidence of Chinese election influence operations.

“The Congressman has never been accused of wrongdoing in that matter and your attempt to release the file is a transparent attempt to smear him and undermine his campaign for Governor of California,” Swalwell’s attorneys Norm Eisen and Sean Hecker wrote Patel. “Your actions threaten to expose you, others at the FBI, and the FBI itself to significant legal liability.”

Swalwell’s office and Eisen did not immediately respond Sunday to a request for comment from Just the News.

But on social media, Swalwell has suggested he’s a victim and any release of the Fang counterintelligence files would sabotage his California gubernatorial campaign. “The reason Trump is so desperately trying to stop me is not because I’m running for Governor of California, but because now I’m the favorite,” Swalwell posted on X.

Swalwell’s position differs when Trump is the target

The congressman’s reaction to the China files stands in stark contrast to his rhetoric when he pressed for transparency in past probes targeting Trump. Swalwell talked openly with liberal talk show host Rachel Maddow about investigating former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page after revelations that Page was targeted by a secret United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) warrant in the now-discredited Russia collusion probe.

He even suggested Page — who was (like Swalwell) — never charged with wrongdoing, was a former intelligence officer who assisted the CIA as a private citizen — should be investigated just because he gave a speech in Russia, something Bill Clinton did as well.

“In July 2016, a month after Russia’s DNC meddling was revealed in the press, Page traveled to Moscow to make a speech,” Swalwell wrote on his congressional website. “The Trump campaign approved this trip, saying he would not be traveling as an official representative of the campaign. In the speech he delivered in Moscow, [Page] criticized American foreign policy as being hypocritical — remarks which ultimately led to his resignation from Trump’s campaign.”

Swalwell also declared in March 2019 that “Congress and the American public must see every single word of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report. And we should see it at the same time as President Trump, a subject of the investigation, sees it. Nothing less than the rule of law in our country is on the line. Congress must also hear from Mueller himself to make sure that we have received the whole, unvarnished truth. No President is above the law.”

Special Counsel John Durham ultimately concluded there was no basis for the FBI to even open a probe into Russia collusion and target Page with a FISA warrant. And multiple probes have found significant evidence of wrongdoing in that FBI probe, including the false submission of a court filing.

Swalwell was similarly adamant related to the Ukraine impeachment saga during Trump’s first term, accusing the Trump White House of “an ongoing cover-up […] The lengths they [the White House and the Department of Justice ] went to to stop Congress from seeing this information […] I think shows the American people what we’re up against in getting the information we need,” Swalwell said on Fox News in September 2019, adding that “the transcripts with the Ukrainian president […] were moved into a top secret covert action system.” The Californian congressman claimed this showed a “consciousness of guilt.”

Swalwell and a host of other Democrats more recently sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi demanding the release of the entirety of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on Trump stemming from the unprecedented raid of Mar-a-Lago. 

Swalwell to DOJ: “Why are you keeping Donald Trump’s name, to the degree that you are, out of them?”

More recently, Swalwell dismissed concerns by DOJ that the names of innocent Americans should be redacted in the release of Epstein evidence mandated by Congress. Those privacy concerns were blamed for delays in the release of some of the evidence and Swalwell suggested DOJ should be punished, including with loss of federal funding.

“Every member of the Judiciary Committee, every Republican, every Democrat voted to release these documents and to have them in our hands,” Swalwell said. “They were supposed to be in our hands so that we could stand up for victims and to make sure that we know the names of the people who enabled Jeffrey Epstein.”

Swalwell suggested to MSNOW several penalties for violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act, including contempt charges and reduced DOJ funding. “Where the hell are these files? And why are you keeping Donald Trump’s name, to the degree that you are, out of them?” he asked.

Swalwell and Fang Fang: Much still remains hidden from the public

Fang Fang, a Chinese national believed to be working with China’s Ministry of State Security, conducted an extensive political influence operation between 2011 and 2015 on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party in the Bay Area and elsewhere, according to a 2020 report by Axios, which cited U.S. intelligence officials.

Federal agents carrying out a counterintelligence investigation into Fang “alerted Swalwell to their concerns” in 2015 and provided him with a defensive briefing, according to the outlet. Fang soon left the United States in the summer of 2015.

The House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into Swalwell in April 2021, and sent him a letter in May 2023 telling him the inquiry had ended. “The Committee on Ethics informed you that it had determined to investigate allegations raised in the complaint that you may have violated House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct in connection with your interactions with Ms. Christine Fang,” the closure letter said. “The Committee will take no further action in this matter.”

Swalwell’s change in the value of transparency hasn’t gone unnoticed, as the right-leaning New York Post editorial pages called him out last week.

“Eric Swalwell wants the Jeffrey Epstein files released — just not the Fang Fang files,” the newspaper’s editorial board wrote. 

“Now, all of a sudden, Swalwell doesn’t like the idea of the FBI releasing files,” the paper added. “That’s because this time, the files involve documents about Christine Fang, or Fang Fang, an alleged Chinese spy who reportedly had a relationship with Swalwell.”

John Solomon is an award-winning investigative journalist, author and digital media entrepreneur who serves as Chief Executive Officer and Editor in Chief of Just the News. Before founding Just the News,  Solomon played key reporting and executive roles at some of America’s most important journalism institutions, such as The Associated Press, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Newsweek, The Daily Beast and The Hill.

Reprinted with permission from Just The News by John Solomon.

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.