Newly declassified FBI records reveal former Rep. Eric Swalwell told federal agents he had a sexual relationship with suspected Chinese intelligence operative Christine "Fang Fang" Fang, and the bureau found evidence she funneled illegal campaign donations to his coffers.
Swalwell, a California Democrat who joined Congress in 2013, admitted during a May 2015 FBI interview at the bureau's Oakland field office that he had "physical relations" with Fang on "a handful of occasions," with their last encounter occurring in March 2015. The records, declassified by President Donald Trump and released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force, detail a years-long FBI probe into Fang's activities around Swalwell's political operation, including illegal foreign-national campaign contributions, intern placement schemes, and repeated attempts to steer the congressman toward China.
Fox News Digital reported that the declassified documents were released as part of the administration's broader efforts to combat foreign threats to U.S. elections and political systems. Swalwell had for years refused to say publicly whether his interactions with Fang were sexual or romantic, dismissing the allegations as Republican attacks. The FBI files now settle that question in his own words.
The FBI interview summaries paint a picture Swalwell tried for years to keep out of public view. He told agents the two first met in 2012, had a drink together a couple of weeks later, and began a physical relationship he characterized as "casual." He said he never dated Fang and never considered it a romantic relationship, but believed she "may have wanted a more romantic relationship."
One encounter stood out in the records. Swalwell described Fang arriving at his apartment "banging on his door," after which the two "hooked up." The FBI summary noted a telling detail:
"FANG left after a couple hours. Swalwell barely remembers the event because he had taken Ambien prior to FANG arriving."
The records indicated that encounter "probably" occurred before Swalwell was elected to Congress. A second FBI interview followed in March 2016, also at the Oakland field office, during which Swalwell provided additional details and told agents he had cut off contact with Fang after the bureau first approached him about her.
In that 2016 sit-down, Swalwell also told agents that Fang "would generally mention that SWALWELL should go to CHINA" and that she had extended a China travel invitation to someone in his orbit at a November 2014 election-night party. The New York Post reported that during the 2016 interview, Swalwell described the difference between Fang and his other organizational contacts bluntly: "The only difference between FANG and other organizational contacts, was that SWALWELL and FANG occasionally hooked up and FANG had a thing for him."
The financial trail behind Fang's operation is where the records carry the most weight for taxpayers concerned about foreign influence in American elections. FBI financial records showed Fang used conduits, middlemen, to conceal herself as a prohibited foreign-national source of political donations. She orchestrated conduit contributions to Swalwell's campaign at least twice in 2013 and at least twice more in 2014, a minimum of four separate instances of what the FBI concluded were federal election law violations.
An FBI investigative memo described agents examining allegations that Fang "facilitated access to Swalwell and internships in his congressional office in return for campaign contributions." Swalwell told agents he viewed anyone Fang put forward for an internship as coming through the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association, known as APAPA, an organization with which Fang was connected. Breitbart reported that the FBI memorandum stated plainly: "Investigation has revealed that Fang Fang, a Chinese foreign national residing in the United States, is the facilitator of a scheme to trade internships in Congressman Eric Swalwell's Congressional office in return for campaign contributions."
The FBI ultimately found no evidence that Swalwell himself committed federal corruption violations or participated in a quid-pro-quo scheme. He was removed as a subject of the investigation in 2017. But the bureau did find evidence that Fang violated federal election laws involving foreign-national and conduit contributions, a distinction that matters. Swalwell may have escaped criminal liability, but the woman in his bed was, by the FBI's own assessment, breaking federal law to put money into his campaign.
The declassified records reveal the FBI suspected Fang had ties to China's Ministry of State Security, the country's primary civilian intelligence agency. Her parents were reportedly considered known Chinese intelligence officers. The bureau had tried to cultivate Fang as a confidential source under the codename "RUSTY THUMBS", a detail that raises its own questions about how long the FBI was aware of her activities before warning Swalwell.
That warning came in late April 2015, when the FBI gave Swalwell what is known as a defensive briefing, a formal sit-down in which agents alert a person that they may be the target of foreign intelligence activity. The briefing specifically discussed Fang and her connections. Swalwell's first formal interview followed weeks later, in May 2015.
The investigation itself, which the New York Post reported was codenamed "Freshman Fifteen," ran from May 2014 to May 2017. It targeted alleged campaign contribution schemes involving internship promises. A May 2, 2017 FBI memo explained the case's closure: "In consultation with San Francisco Division Executive Management, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, SAC San Francisco has determined that prosecution is non-viable due to national security reasons." Fang had fled to China before she could be prosecuted, reportedly after suspecting one of her contacts was an undercover FBI agent.
Swalwell and his attorneys did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. But his legal counsel, Sara Azari, did respond through Just the News, framing the document release as a political act rather than a law enforcement matter:
"There is nothing new here. The government's own memorandum confirms what Congressman Swalwell has said for more than a decade: he did nothing wrong, and there was no basis to charge him with any offense."
Azari went further, arguing that "an investigation that produced no charges and no finding of wrongdoing should not be resurrected years later as a vehicle for political retaliation." She characterized the Trump administration's release as targeting a vocal critic.
The "nothing new" defense requires a generous reading of the record. For years, Swalwell refused to confirm or deny the sexual nature of his relationship with Fang, dismissing questions as partisan attacks. The declassified files show he told the FBI the truth in private while stonewalling the public. The FBI cleared him of criminal corruption, but no one cleared him of the judgment failure that allowed a suspected Chinese intelligence operative, whose own parents were considered known intelligence officers, to get close enough to funnel illegal money into his campaign, place interns in his congressional office, and repeatedly press him to visit China.
Several gaps remain. The records do not say whether Fang was ever charged or prosecuted for the election law violations the FBI found evidence of, and her flight to China suggests she likely was not. The full scope of APAPA's connection to Fang's activities is unclear. Whether other elected officials were investigated in connection with Fang's operations is not addressed in the released documents. And the FBI's attempt to recruit Fang as a confidential source under "RUSTY THUMBS" raises the question of whether the bureau's own interest in using her delayed the warning to Swalwell.
The declassification was described as part of the administration's broader push to combat foreign threats to American elections. The records are publicly available through the White House in a file labeled "RUSTY-THUMBS.zip."
A congressman who spent years dodging questions about a suspected Chinese spy now has his own words on the public record. The FBI may not have found a crime on his end, but the American public can now judge the conduct for themselves.
