Democrats Halted FBI Probe Into Democrat Eric Swalwell

In 2014, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) reportedly had close ties with a CCP spy known as ‘Fang Fang’.

Some sources claim that Swalwell and Christine Fang had a sexual affair and the matter was even the subject of an investigation that ultimately found him not guilty of any wrongdoing. …

However, in 2021 then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) sought to remove Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee due to intelligence briefings he reportedly received on Swalwell’s relationship with Fang.

Speaker McCarthy recently revisited the matter and stated “If you got the briefing I got from the FBI, you wouldn’t have Swalwell on any committee.”

According to one recent report, the FBI allegedly knew of Swalwell’s involvement with Fang and initiated a probe into the matter, but the probe was reportedly stonewalled by Democrat lawmakers.

Journalist and author Jerry Dunleavy exposed the details of the scandal and the ensuing obfuscation in this Twitter thread:

“Some new details below on the Chinese spying sagas related to Eric Swalwell and Dianne Feinstein — and on the FBI’s handling of the allegations. The revelations raise serious concerns about how the FBI top brass may have politicized these two investigations by limiting the ability of FBI agents to fully investigate CCP espionage targeting two high-profile Democrats.

Note: Much of the below is according to a former FBI official from the counterintelligence world. (And buckle in — these are four long tweets.)

Background: Both Christine Fang aka Fang Fang (of the Swalwell saga) and Russell Lowe (of the Feinstein saga) were believed to be co-optees of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) — the CCP’s intelligence & secret police agency response for foreign intelligence & counterintelligence operations worldwide.

Fang & Lowe were specifically interacting with & speaking to the MSS 12th Bureau (a CCP spy bureau with a heavy emphasis on foreign influence operations & political influence).

Fang was a Chinese national who targeted a variety of U.S. politicians and who was personally close to Swalwell, and Lowe was an ethnic Chinese U.S. citizen and a key staffer for Feinstein in her Senate office in California and was a representative for Feinstein with the large Asian-American community in the state.

They both also had contact with Chinese intelligence officers at China’s consulate in San Francisco, and Fang & Lowe knew each other and were pictured together at China-related events.

In both instances, FBI investigations were essentially ended when FBI leadership decided to provide defensive briefings to Swalwell & Feinstein (citing their key roles on House Intel & Senate Intel respectively) rather than allowing the investigations into the Chinese spy efforts to continue.

(FBI offices in DC & SanFran came together in the 2008 & 2009 timeframe to try to figure out how to deal with MSS & Chinese intel targeting of American politicians — with CCP operations especially active in California.)”

Scoop: Some new details below on the Chinese spying sagas related to Eric Swalwell and Dianne Feinstein — and on the FBI’s handling of the allegations. The revelations raise serious concerns about how the FBI top brass may have politicized these two investigations by limiting the…

— Jerry Dunleavy 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) July 9, 2023

“New Details on Swalwell & Fang Fang: Axios did a very good story on this in 2020, but much of the following is new. One thing that was actually not in the Axios story but which my source has confirmed — the FBI firmly believed based on the evidence they collected on Fang that there had been a sexual relationship between Swalwell & Fang. (Swalwell’s office had previously refused to answer my questions on what the specific nature of his relationship with Fang Fang had been.)

According to the former FBI official from the counterintelligence world, the FBI had FISA surveillance up & running on Fang (who was targeting numerous politicians in California & elsewhere, including Swalwell), according to the source, and so many of her actions & communications were being intercepted & monitored. The FISA related to suspicions that Fang was an agent of a foreign power (China). The FBI did not believe Fang was a Chinese intelligence officer herself, but rather a willing tool of Chinese intel services. Fang was on the radar of the CIA and the NSA, as well as the bureau. The FBI believed MSS also knew members of Fang’s family.

The FBI further opened a parallel public corruption case directly related to all of this and made Swalwell a subject of the case, according to the source, including looking into the possibilities of illegal foreign donations from the Chinese government, possible quid pro quo, and possible bribery (important to note that Swalwell was never charged with any wrongdoing and that the House Ethics Committee ended its own investigation into this earlier this year). Fang was involved in fundraising activity for Swalwell’s 2014 re-election campaign, and FBI agents believed that Fang facilitated a small ($100 or $200 range) illegal foreign donation to Swalwell, according to the source.

The congressman’s D.C. office also provided an internship for Fang’s family friend, per the source, with the FBI believing the internship was provided as a favor to Fang. Swalwell was soon named to the House Intelligence Committee by Nancy Pelosi, and this prompted the FBI’s top leadership (colloquially known as the FBI’s 7th Floor) to decide to provide Swalwell with a defensive briefing in 2015, which effectively shut down the dual investigations by the bureau.

According to the source, there was heated disagreement about this briefing decision from the FBI agents involved, many of whom had wanted to keep investigating. The public corruption side did not want to close its case and wanted to keep investigating, the source said, and many of the case agents on the counterintel side did not want to close their case either and wanted to keep going too, but they were all overruled by FBI higher-ups.

Fang quickly left the United States when word got back to her on what was happening. The Justice Department never publicly charged Fang with anything. Swalwell’s office said in 2020: “Rep. Swalwell, long ago, provided information about this person — whom he met more than eight years ago, and whom he hasn’t seen in nearly six years — to the FBI. To protect information that might be classified, he will not participate in your story.”

New Details on Swalwell & Fang Fang: Axios did a very good story on this in 2020, but much of the following is new. One thing that was actually not in the Axios story but which my source has confirmed — the FBI firmly believed based on the evidence they collected on Fang that…

— Jerry Dunleavy 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) July 9, 2023

“New Details on Feinstein & Russell Lowe: Politico & other outlets wrote about Lowe starting in 2018, but again much of the following info is new. The Feinstein staffer was being looked at by the FBI for numerous years (since at least 2008), per the source, with a case opened against Lowe by the bureau because he met with a Chinese intelligence officer in San Francisco. According to the former FBI official from the counterintelligence world, Lowe had also secretly met with Chinese intel officers in China for years (in addition to publicly meeting with CCP officials at their consulate in California while working for Feinstein).

Lowe was believed to have discussed a number of topics with Chinese intel officers while working as a Feinstein staffer, per the source, including Feinstein’s views, U.S. politics, international politics, U.S.-China relations, political views, and China-related controversies such as currency manipulation.

The FBI investigation into Lowe moved slowly for a few years. That FBI investigation was eventually moved from being a counterintelligence case to counterespionage case, the source said, and the FBI was legitimately concerned by what Lowe was up to.

According to the source, the bureau worked on obtaining a FISA against Lowe — the FBI drafted the FISA targeting Lowe and the bureau was dealing with the DOJ National Security Division’s Office of Intelligence on finalizing the surveillance warrant, but the FISA never got submitted to the FISA Court, and the FBI pulled the FISA at the last minute in a very unusual move.

There was initial approval to search Lowe’s home (he would regularly go over to China around December each year and so that is when the FBI planned the search for), the source said, but that was called off when then-FBI deputy director Sean Joyce instead decided to give Feinstein a defensive briefing in the latter half of 2013.

The criminal predicate / counterintelligence predicate for the proposed search of Lowe’s abode was the suspicion that he was working as an agent of a foreign power (China).

The source said FBI agents were told by then-FBI counterespionage section chief Louis Bladel that the prevailing reason for the FBI deputy director briefing Feinstein rather than allowing the FBI to ramp up the investigation into Lowe was that the FBI needed Feinstein’s support and needed Feinstein on their side (she was chair of Senate Intel), likely specifically related to the FBI wanting her support on counterterrorism efforts.

The FBI agents working the case were pissed that they weren’t allowed to conduct the covert search against Lowe.

FBI agents were instructed to simply interview Lowe and then close the case, per the source. The reasons for closing the case were not well documented in the FBI’s case file for this Feinstein staffer, and what was briefed to Feinstein by the FBI was not documented in the file either.

Lowe left Feinstein’s office after she received her defensive briefing.

Feinstein said in 2018: “The FBI told me five years ago it had concerns that China was seeking to recruit an administrative member of my California staff (despite no access to sensitive information). I took those concerns seriously, learned the facts, and made sure the employee left my office immediately.”

The FBI believed Lowe knew he had been meeting with Chinese intelligence officers, the source said, and that there was a tacit understanding between Lowe & the Chinese. The FBI thought Lowe was being run by China and the FBI further thought the Chinese also believed China was running him.”

New Details on Feinstein & Russell Lowe: Politico & other outlets wrote about Lowe starting in 2018, but again much of the following info is new. The Feinstein staffer was being looked at by the FBI for numerous years (since at least 2008), per the source, with a case opened…

— Jerry Dunleavy 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) July 9, 2023