FBI Files Detail Swalwell's Ties to Chinese Spy

Declassified FBI memos released Monday describe a bureau investigation into former Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., over campaign donations and congressional intern placements tied to Christine Fang, a Chinese national the FBI suspected of working for Beijing's intelligence service.

The New York Post reports the undercover probe was codenamed "Freshman Fifteen."

No one was charged. The FBI initially sought evidence to indict both Swalwell and Fang on campaign finance violations, then narrowed the case to Fang alone, and the Justice Department ultimately declined to prosecute her.

What the Documents Say

The memos, as reported by Fox News, the New York Post, Newsmax, NTD and Legal Insurrection, lay out three threads.

First, money. Investigators tracked at least four instances of alleged conduit donations — so-called straw donations routed through U.S. citizens — twice in 2013 and twice more in 2014.

Second, access. Legal Insurrection quotes the files describing Swalwell's staff placing Fang's interns in Congress, and Swalwell telling agents he did not have "a strong enough campaign finance system to detect the straw donations she allegedly passed through U.S.-citizen conduits."

Third, the relationship. In 2015, Swalwell admitted to FBI agents that he had "physical relations with Fang on a handful of occasions," according to the documents. The FBI dated the contact to 2012.

The bureau identified Fang's parents as agents of China's Ministry of State Security before the investigation closed.