WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — The FBI briefed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican House minority leader Kevin McCarthy Friday on the case of a suspected Chinese spy and her past interactions with politicians.
Rep. McCarthy told reporters he doesn’t believe Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) should continue to serve on the House Intelligence Committee.
Pelosi did not talk about this story publicly Friday, but last week she said she does not have “any concern” about Swalwell.
Last week, news outlet Axios first reported about a woman named Christine Fang. In a yearlong investigation, Axios’s Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian and Zach Dorfman found that Fang tried to gain access to political circles between 2011 and 2015, allegedly on behalf of a Chinese spy agency.
Axios says Fang helped fundraise for Swalwell’s 2014 reelection campaign.
Swalwell denies any wrongdoing, saying he never shared classified information, and in fact, cut ties with Fang in 2015. She is now back in China.
But this week, more than a dozen House Republicans called on Speaker Pelosi to remove Swalwell from the Intel Committee, saying his close interactions with Fang — even if unintentional and in the past — pose an unacceptable national security risk. NewsNation’s Joe Donlon spoke with Bethany Allen Ebrahimian, the Axios reporter who broke that story. Watch their interview in the player below.
