Newly declassified FBI interview summaries show former Rep. Eric Swalwell told federal agents he had a sexual relationship with a woman the bureau suspected of working for Chinese intelligence, a relationship he spent years refusing to confirm publicly.
The records, released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force, detail two FBI interviews with the California Democrat, one in May 2015 and another in March 2016, conducted at the bureau's Oakland field office. In those sit-downs, Swalwell told agents he had "physical relations" with Christine "Fang Fang" Fang on a "handful of occasions," Fox News Digital reported. He described the last encounter as occurring in March 2015.
President Donald Trump ordered the documents declassified. The White House framed the release as part of its broader effort to combat foreign threats to U.S. elections and political systems. The files were first reported by Just the News.
Swalwell first met Fang in 2012, before he entered Congress. He told agents the two had a drink a couple of weeks after that first meeting. He joined Congress in 2013, and the physical relationship continued into 2015. He characterized it as casual and said they never dated. But he acknowledged that Fang "may have wanted a more romantic relationship."
One encounter stood out in the declassified summaries. Swalwell told agents that Fang arrived at his apartment, banging on his door. The two "hooked up," but Swalwell said he "barely remembers the event because he had taken Ambien prior to FANG arriving." The FBI documented that account in its interview summary:
"FANG left after a couple hours. Swalwell barely remembers the event because he had taken Ambien prior to FANG arriving."
For years, Swalwell refused to say whether his interactions with Fang were sexual or romantic. He dismissed the questions as Republican attacks. The declassified records now show he admitted the relationship's nature to federal investigators long ago, he simply declined to tell the public.
The sexual relationship was only one thread in a broader investigation. FBI financial records indicated Fang used conduits, intermediaries who mask the true source of donations, to funnel money into Swalwell's campaign. She orchestrated these conduit contributions at least twice in 2013 and at least twice more in 2014, concealing herself as a prohibited foreign-national donor.
The bureau suspected Fang had ties to China's Ministry of State Security, the country's civilian intelligence agency. Her parents were reportedly considered known MSS intelligence officers. The FBI tried to cultivate Fang as a confidential source under the codename "RUSTY THUMBS."
The full-scale investigation carried a separate codename: "Freshman Fifteen." A synopsis released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force stated that "the FBI developed evidence that a Chinese woman with direct ties to that country's intelligence service had potentially compromised a Democratic congressman from California with sex, foreign interns and illicit donations," Breitbart reported.
Fang did more than write checks. She also referred prospective interns to Swalwell's political operation. Swalwell told agents he viewed anyone Fang put forward as coming through APAPA, the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association, an organization with which Fang was reportedly connected. Whether those referrals resulted in actual placements in his congressional office remains unclear from the released documents.
Fang repeatedly encouraged Swalwell to travel to China. At a November 2014 election-night party, she extended a China invitation to someone in Swalwell's orbit. The identity of that person is not specified in the declassified files. The pattern of behavior, illegal donations, intern referrals, travel invitations, a sexual relationship with a sitting congressman, fits a textbook influence operation. The question of foreign money contaminating American campaigns is not limited to Swalwell's case, but few examples are this brazen.
In late April 2015, the FBI gave Swalwell a defensive briefing, a formal warning that a foreign intelligence service appeared to be targeting him. The briefing specifically discussed Fang and her connections. Swalwell told agents he cut off contact with Fang after that first meeting with the bureau.
The FBI interviewed him formally the following month, in May 2015, and again in March 2016. By 2017, the bureau had removed Swalwell as a subject of the investigation. The FBI said it did not find evidence that Swalwell committed federal corruption violations or participated in a quid-pro-quo scheme.
That finding cleared Swalwell of the most serious criminal exposure. But it did not clear the record. The FBI simultaneously found evidence that Fang herself violated federal election laws involving foreign-national and conduit contributions. A suspected Chinese intelligence operative, whose parents were reportedly MSS officers, funneled illegal money into a congressman's campaign, placed interns in his operation, pushed him to visit China, and slept with him, and the congressman spent years publicly denying the sexual component while privately having already admitted it to federal agents.
The gap between Swalwell's public posture and his private admissions is not a small thing. Members of Congress who face questions about potential foreign compromise owe the public straight answers. Swalwell chose evasion. The pattern of elected officials treating campaign finance rules as optional has become disturbingly familiar in recent years.
In his FBI interviews, Swalwell described Fang as a "striking individual." He acknowledged the sexual relationship began after their initial drink. He framed it as insignificant, casual, unmemorable, one encounter blurred by sleep medication. The FBI's investigation told a different story: a years-long, multi-pronged influence campaign directed at a sitting member of Congress by someone the bureau believed was connected to Chinese intelligence.
Fox News Digital reached out to Swalwell and his attorneys for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Swalwell is no longer in Congress, but the case raises questions that extend beyond one former lawmaker. How many other members have been targeted by foreign intelligence operatives using the same playbook, donations, interns, personal relationships, travel invitations? The declassified files offer a granular look at one operation. They do not tell us how many others remain classified. Congressional ethics and accountability mechanisms have faced growing scrutiny over their ability to police lawmaker conduct, and the Swalwell case illustrates why.
The declassified documents are available through the White House at the link the Government Transparency Task Force published. The investigation's codename, "RUSTY THUMBS" for Fang, "Freshman Fifteen" for the broader probe, suggests the FBI took the matter seriously from the start. Whether Congress and the public took it seriously enough is a different question. Ethics panels have a mixed record on holding members accountable, as recent clearance decisions have demonstrated.
When a foreign intelligence operative compromises a member of Congress and the member spends years dodging questions about it, the problem is not just espionage. It is the culture of evasion that lets it fester.