House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) plans to introduce a resolution next week to remove Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) from the House Intelligence Committee.
“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,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter. “Next week, I will offer a resolution to remove him from the Intel Committee.”
The Epoch Times sent a request for comment to Swalwell’s office.
The lawmakers referred to public reporting that Swalwell was among a group of politicians targeted by the alleged CCP spy, known as Fang Fang or Christine Fang.
A report by Axios on Dec. 7 claimed that Fang built up an extensive network of contacts with up-and-coming politicians in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Swalwell. The report said Swalwell cut ties with her after investigators gave him a “defensive briefing,” and that he provided information about her to the FBI.
Swalwell, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN that he didn’t do anything wrong and accused Republicans of trying to weaponize the report.
“I was told about this individual, and I offered to help,” he told CNN. “All I did was cooperate, and the FBI said that.”
But national security concerns have persisted, given Swalwell’s membership on the House Committee on Homeland Security, whose members have access to sensitive classified information.
Swalwell served as one of the impeachment managers during the Senate trial of President Donald Trump.
According to Axios, which broke the story on Fang, she was believed to have helped place “unwitting subagents” in local political and congressional offices, but it was unlikely that she herself received or passed on classified information. Nonetheless, she collected private information about U.S. officials.
Fang appeared to have become close with Swalwell before federal investigators alerted the California lawmaker to their concerns in a defensive briefing.
“The ‘honeypot tactic’ is the oldest trick in the book,” Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) told The Epoch Times in January.
“Swalwell’s gullibility and recklessness should disqualify him not just from a seat on the House Intelligence Committee, but also from being a member of Congress as well.”
