House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Friday he will offer a resolution next week to remove California Democrat Eric Swalwell from the House Standing Intelligence Selective Committee, an effort that an aide high-level Democrat called it a “waste of time” that will go nowhere.
“Pelosi has just re-appointed Eric Swalwell to the Intelligence Committee. Based on the information she and I received together, Swalwell should not be part of the group in charge of guarding our nation’s secrets.” said McCarthy. in a tweet.
His tweet refers to information from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and McCarthy, received by the FBI on December 18, 2020 about Swalwell’s contacts with an alleged Chinese intelligence agent, according to an aide of McCarthy.
According to a 2020 Axios story, the operative, named Christine Fang or Fang Fang, came into contact with several politicians in the Bay Area between 2011 and 2015 as part of an intelligence operation. license run by the Chinese civilian intelligence agency. He helped raise funds for Swalwell’s 2014 re-election campaign, helped place at least one fellow in his office, and interacted with the congressman during various events.
Axios also reported that a current senior U.S. intelligence official did not believe Fang passed or received any classified information, and federal investigators alerted Swalwell of his activities in 2015, at which point he severed all ties.
At the time of the story, Swalwell’s office acknowledged that he met Fang more than eight years ago and that he provided information about her to the FBI when he was informed of his identity. I hadn’t seen her in six years.
Following McCarthy’s tweet on Friday, Swalwell said: “I look forward to continuing the important work of protecting Americans and supporting the working heroes of our intelligence community, and I thank President Pelosi and President Schiff on their support and trust “.
A senior Democratic aide said McCarthy’s resolution would be “presented” or dismissed by the House instantly, calling it a “waste of time.” Swalwell, the aide said, had acted properly and has not been accused of doing anything wrong.
“Republicans should be very wary of starting something like this,” the attendant warned. “His lecture is full of exposure.”
Republican lawmakers pointed to the story to try to discredit Swalwell when he was one of the dismissal managers during the Senate trial for former President Trump last month and to warn that it would be grounds to dismiss him from committees in case Republicans regained power in the House just as Democrats moved to remove Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee duties earlier this year. Greene’s removal came as a result of comments he had made prior to his campaign in Congress in which he had expressed support for QAnon’s conspiracy theories and other racist and anti-Semitic comments.