Declassified FBI Memos Reveal Stunning Details About Swalwell And Chinese Spy

Newly declassified FBI records are shedding light on a years-old investigation involving former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell and suspected Chinese intelligence operative Christine Fang, including allegations involving illegal campaign contributions, congressional interns and a previously undisclosed FBI effort to recruit Fang as an informant.

The documents were declassified by President Donald Trump and released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force. The files detail an FBI investigation that examined Fang’s relationship with Swalwell and whether she was using political fundraising and personal relationships to build influence with American officials.

According to the records, the FBI opened an investigation codenamed “Freshman Fifteen” in March 2014. Investigators identified Fang, also known as Fang Fang, as the alleged facilitator of a scheme involving campaign contributions and access to Swalwell’s congressional office.

One FBI memo obtained by Just The News said investigators believed Fang had used other people to conceal herself as the true source of political contributions because foreign nationals are prohibited from contributing to federal campaigns.

Investigators concluded that certain contributions traced back to Fang herself, according to the newly released records. The FBI also investigated whether access and congressional internships were being exchanged for political contributions.

The files describe another incident in which Fang allegedly attempted to persuade an individual to donate to Swalwell. According to an FBI interview, Fang told the person to bring a checkbook to a fundraiser and allegedly offered to reimburse the contribution. The individual told investigators that the offer was declined.

In another episode in March 2015, Fang solicited a $1,000 contribution to Swalwell from an individual who was secretly working as an FBI confidential human source. Agents authorized the transaction as part of their investigation.

The FBI’s stated goal at one stage of the investigation was to gather enough evidence to determine whether Swalwell and Fang could be charged with campaign finance violations or an illegal quid pro quo.

Swalwell was interviewed by investigators multiple times. The FBI ultimately concluded it had not established federal criminal violations by the congressman. In February 2017, Swalwell was dropped as a subject and investigators continued focusing on Fang and her alleged campaign finance activity.

Swalwell’s attorney, Sara Azari, pointed to that conclusion after the files were released.

“There is nothing new here,” Azari said in a statement, arguing that the government’s own records showed Swalwell “did nothing wrong” and that there was no basis to charge him.

The documents nevertheless provide extraordinary new details about what federal investigators suspected Fang was doing in the United States.

Before the investigation was launched, the FBI had actually attempted to recruit Fang as a confidential source.

Agents gave her the codename “Rusty Thumbs” and used an undercover FBI employee and fictitious business as part of an operation designed to develop a relationship with her. Investigators believed Fang could potentially provide intelligence about Chinese influence operations targeting American government officials.

The FBI’s interest was not accidental. According to the declassified records, investigators believed Fang had connections to China’s Ministry of State Security, the country’s principal civilian intelligence agency. One memo identified her parents as known MSS intelligence officers.

Fang reportedly spoke openly about her American political activities during the FBI’s recruitment effort, including her ability to connect political candidates with donors. She eventually signed a contractor agreement with the undercover operation in 2013.

That effort was terminated shortly before the FBI opened its investigation into the alleged campaign contribution scheme.

The records also show Fang referred interns to Swalwell’s political and congressional operations. Swalwell told investigators that he viewed those referrals as connected to the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association, an organization active in a constituency important to his district.

The FBI’s investigation eventually focused entirely on Fang. Agents concluded there was evidence she had violated several federal laws involving foreign-national and conduit campaign contributions, according to the closing records.

But Fang had already left the United States for China in 2015 as investigators began interviewing people around her.

The newly released files provide a far more detailed picture of a relationship that first became a national controversy in 2020. They also show just how seriously federal investigators viewed Fang’s activities as they attempted to determine whether Chinese intelligence-linked influence efforts had penetrated American political circles.