Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., should lose his seat on the House Intelligence Committee due to his "troublesome" connections to a woman accused of being a Chinese spy, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said this week.
McCarthy filed a two-page House resolution demanding Swalwell be removed from the committee — which is privy to some of the most secretive information in the U.S. — over his ties to alleged Chinese spy Fang Fang, who also had helped raise money for Swalwell's campaigns.
Swalwell "has not denied public reporting that a suspected Chinese intelligence operative helped raise money for Rep. Swalwell's political campaigns" and "other troublesome elements of public reporting," according to a copy of the resolution obtained by Fox News.
Republicans have been urging Swalwell's removal from the intel committee since the spy scandal was revealed in December.
Swalwell, who was also a key member of the House Democrats' impeachment efforts against former President Donald Trump, tweeted that he was outraged by McCarthy's resolution:
"Meet the New McCarthyism. Multiple sentences in resolution state 'Swalwell has not denied. ...' Yet fails to include multiple FBI statements of 'no wrongdoing' and did nothing but 'cooperate.' All of this to deflect from @GOPLeader's support for QAnon."
Swalwell has disclosed relatively little about his link to Fang Fang and has resisted calls to step down from any committee assignments.
"I'm eager to continue the important work of protecting Americans and supporting the hard-working heroes of our Intelligence Community, and I thank Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi[,D-Calif.,] and Chairman [Adam] Schiff[, D-Calif.,] for their support and confidence," Swalwell said in a past statement, per Fox News.
Fang Fang is alleged to have had multiple sexual relationships with elected officials, including at least two Midwestern mayors, according to Axios. She left the U.S. in 2015 amid the FBI investigation into her activities, and Swalwell immediately cut all ties with her after the FBI informed him about the probe.
The resolution faces an uphill battle, as Democrats hold a slim 219-211 majority in the House and would likely move to "table" it without a vote, Fox News reported.
McCarthy teased his introduction of the resolution in a tweet last week:
"Pelosi just reappointed Eric Swalwell to the Intelligence Committee. Based on the briefing she and I received together, Swalwell should not be on the panel in charge of guarding our nation's secrets.
"Next week, I will offer a resolution to remove him from the Intel Committee."
Though Democrats are unlikely to vote to remove him from the House Intelligence Committee, Swalwell is in a tough spot. If he publicly explains details of his connection to Fang Fang, he risks revealing details of an FBI investigation and potentially classified information. By saying relatively little, however, he's allowed his detractors to define the debate.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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