FBI files reveal Swalwell's relationship with Chinese operative

Former Rep. Eric Swalwell told FBI investigators he had a physical relationship with Christine Fang, a suspected Chinese operative at the center of a yearslong counterintelligence investigation, according to newly declassified records released Monday.

The records were released by the White House Transparency Task Force and provide the most detailed public account to date of the relationship and the FBI's efforts to investigate Fang's ties to California politics.

Fang, also known as "Fang Fang," had an extensive presence in California political circles starting as a student activist. According to FBI documents, she was known to investigators by the codename "Rusty Thumbs," a designation appearing in an FBI memo dated June 2013.

The FBI discovered Swalwell's relationship with Fang when bureau agents attempted to recruit her as a double agent. In a 2013 FBI memo, investigators documented that Swalwell joked about Fang working for China's Ministry of State Security, the country's primary intelligence agency. According to the memo, Fang responded to the joke by remarking that MSS officers were either elderly men or women, and that the agency would have hired prostitutes rather than deploying an MSS officer directly to seduce officials.

The declassified documents describe Fang as "narcissistic" and note that she reportedly bragged about her seductive activities. Investigators wrote that during her roughly four years in the United States, Fang sought "money" and "power." The documents also indicate she launched an illegal fundraising scheme and was nearly recruited for a top-secret FBI counterintelligence operation.

The release of these records comes months after Swalwell resigned from Congress and ended his campaign for governor while facing multiple allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. Swalwell has denied all such allegations.

An Axios investigation in 2020 first brought the case into national prominence, revealing how Fang built relationships within California's political establishment. Swalwell had previously battled the FBI in an attempt to block the agency from releasing information related to the matter.