Concerns for our National Security comes out in this report in the Washington Examiner by Susan Ferrechio, stating that Kevin McCarthy wants a briefing with the FBI over an alleged romantic relationship with Rep. Eric Swalwell (D – CA) and a Chinese Spy. Swalwell is a member of the Intelligence Committee. Here’s the report:
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he is asking the FBI to brief the GOP on Rep. Eric Swalwell’s relationship with a Chinese spy.
“I’m asking for an FBI briefing now,” the California Republican told reporters outside the Capitol on Thursday.
McCarthy said he was not among the small group of lawmakers who were briefed by intelligence officials in 2015 on the efforts of a Chinese national to gain ties to politicians, among them Swalwell, a California Democrat elected to Congress in 2013.
Swalwell has declined to answer whether he was romantically involved with the woman, Christine Fang, who was a fundraiser for Swalwell and placed an intern in his office.
Fang remains Facebook friends with Swalwell’s father and brother.
“Speaker Pelosi was notified, I was not,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy, who at the time was serving as the House majority leader, would not have been privy to the information intelligence officials provide to the exclusive “Gang of Eight” team of top leaders and Intelligence Committee members who would have been included in such a briefing.
That list includes the speaker, then GOP Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, Pelosi, who was then minority leader, the Senate majority and minority leaders, and the top two bipartisan leaders on the House and Senate Intelligence committees in both chambers.
Only Pelosi has publicly commented on the briefing, which is supposed to remain highly classified.
It’s up to Pelosi to remove Swalwell from the committee, which is a special panel appointed by the top GOP and Democratic leaders.
She signaled Thursday that she has no plans to make any changes.
“I don’t have any concerns about Mr. Swalwell,” Pelosi told reporters, adding that the leaders in both parties were informed of the matter, “and at the time, it was the end of it.”
But McCarthy wants more information, including answers about the decision to appoint a new member of Congress to one of its most exclusive and secretive committees.
Swalwell was awarded a seat on panel 2015, just two years after his election to Congress, a move McCarthy also questioned Thursday.
“Did anybody approach Nancy Pelosi to lobby to put a person in their second term in the minority on the Intel committee?” McCarthy said. He suggested Swalwell’s membership in the committee influenced a decision by Chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, to opt out of participating on a bipartisan task force on China’s threat to national security.
“That’s another question,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy said Swalwell poses a threat to the security of the panel.
“Why did she allow him to stay on that committee?” McCarthy said. “He’s a national risk and should not serve on the Intelligence Committee.”
Swalwell said he was never accused of wrongdoing and cooperated with officials when they informed him of Fang’s connection to a Chinese intelligence operation.
“No information was ever shared,” with Fang, Swalwell told CNN this week.
- 12/10/2020
- Susan Ferrechio
