Rep. Chris Stewart: Chinese Spies Targeted Multiple Members of Congress

House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) speaks a news conference about the Trump-Putin Helsinki summit in the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in Washington on July 17, 2018. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) revealed on Tuesday that Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spies targeted several members of Congress—other than Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who was the subject of reports that he was compromised by a Chinese spy.

“We know that members of Congress, especially those who serve in very sensitive positions are targeted. That’s just a matter of course that we know that from our own experience, and that shouldn’t surprise anyone,” Stewart told Fox News. “We know the Chinese Communist Party is targeting businesses, academics, they’re targeting members of Congress, members of the Senate, members of the administration. That shouldn’t surprise anyone.”

Stewart said that the suspected CCP spy, known as Christine Fang, or Fang Fang, was a Chinese student who reportedly was able to get close to Swalwell, a California Democrat.

“She had just barely come to the United States. She was so aggressive in developing relationships with politicians. She helped him raise money. For heaven’s sakes, how does a college student have the capacity to help a member of Congress raise money? All sorts of red flags on this,” he said. “The FBI and others have said a thousand times to members of Congress, be careful. You’re going to be targeted,” he added.

It’s not clear which other members of the House or Senate were targeted by the CCP.

But Stewart said that Swalwell has “questions that he absolutely has to answer” about his relationship with Fang Fang.

Later in the interview, Stewart denied House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) recent assertion that all members of the House were briefed by intelligence agencies about Fang Fang. Regarding whether any other Congress members knew about the situation, Pelosi has to answer that question, he added.

Swalwell told CNN last week that he didn’t do anything wrong.

“I was told about this individual and I offered to help,” he told CNN. “All I did was cooperate, and the FBI said that yesterday.” Swalwell then accused Republicans of trying to weaponize the original Axios report.

Swalwell only made a brief statement to media outlets about the Axios report detailing his relationship with Fang Fang, who was also reportedly able to get close to several other politicians, including mayors.

Since then, there have been growing calls for Swalwell to step down from the House Intelligence Committee. Several House Republican leaders sent a letter to Pelosi demanding that she remove Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee.

“Rep. Swalwell withheld information for five years from the House Intelligence Committee about an ongoing Chinese espionage operation targeted at him and his own colleagues,” the House Republicans told Pelosi.

“Obviously, Rep. Swalwell’s interactions with a Chinese spy were more dangerous and unusual than AG [Jeff] Sessions’ meetings with a Russian diplomat. But to make matters worse, Rep. Swalwell kept this information to himself while repeatedly using his position on [House Intelligence panel] to peddle damaging and baseless conspiracies about President Donald Trump’s unproven ties to Russia for years and still refuses to comment fully on the extent and nature of his relationship with the Chinese Communist Party spy exposed in Axios’s bombshell report.”

The Epoch Times reached out to Swalwell’s office for comment about the Axios report. Pelosi’s office has not responded to a request for comment.