Report: Alleged Chinese Spy Raised Money For Eric Swalwell, Planted Intern In His Office
By: Chip Somodevilla
The USA has no greater or more evil enemy than the CCP. Winnie the Pooh chairman Zi is the face of evil in this world and he is a mortal threat to true free enterprise capitalism, to individual freedom and religious liberty, and to democracies and constitutional republics everywhere. We must be on guard that Wall St. and it’s democrat allies don’t sell us out to them.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
An alleged Chinese spy bundled campaign contributions for California Rep. Eric Swalwell and planted an intern in the Democrat’s congressional office, according to a new report.
U.S. intelligence officials said that Christine Fang, the alleged Chinese operative, cozied up to multiple politicians in the California Bay Area between 2011 and 2015 at the direction of China’s Ministry of State Security, its internal spy agency, Axios reported Monday night.
Meanwhile, John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence, revealed in a Thursday opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal that Chinese agents have targeted U.S. lawmakers more than any other country, including Russia and Iran, in order to shape U.S. policy in favor of Beijing.
Ratcliffe said in a Sunday interview that he had briefed the House and Senate Intelligence Committees on the influence efforts. Swalwell, who was elected to Congress in 2012, was appointed to the House committee on Jan. 14, 2015.
According to Axios, Fang began cultivating ties to American politicos through student organizations at California State University East Bay, where she enrolled in 2011. She was president of two groups at the school: the Chinese Student Association and the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs.
Chinese President Xi Jinping proposes a toast during the welcome banquet for leaders attending the Belt and Road Forum at the Great Hall of the People on April 26, 2019 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Nicolas Asfouri – Pool/Getty Images)
Through her connections with those groups, Fang attended political events and fundraisers for several prominent Democrats, including Reps. Swalwell, Ro Khanna, Judy Chu, and former Rep. Mike Honda.
Axios also reported that Fang had intimate relationships with two mayors from cities in the Midwest.
Fang developed the closest ties with Swalwell, according to Axios, which cited unnamed current and former U.S. intelligence officials. She began supporting his political career in the early 2010s, when he was a city councilman in Dublin, California. Axios published three photos of Fang with Swalwell at political events.
Fang raised money to help Swalwell’s reelection campaign in 2014 and placed at least one intern in his congressional office, according to Axios.
Axios did not report that Swalwell was aware of Fang’s covert activity. He has also not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Swalwell’s office issued a statement saying that he cut ties with Fang after the FBI provided him a defensive briefing on the matter in 2015.
“Rep. Swalwell, long ago, provided information about this person — whom he met more than eight years ago, and whom he hasn’t seen in nearly six years — to the FBI. To protect information that might be classified, he will not participate in your story,” Swalwell’s office told Axios.
According to the website, Fang suddenly left the U.S. in mid-2015.
Swalwell was a prominent fixture on television during the Russia probe, appearing in interviews where he pushed the now-debunked claim that President Donald Trump and members of his campaign of colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election.
- A Chinese academic with links to the communist party recently detailed how Beijing used access to a “core circle” of power brokers in Washington and on Wall Street to influence U.S. policy towards China.
- The academic, Di Dongsheng, asserted that Beijing will re-establish its power through that group of “old friends” under the Biden administration.
- Di said that China had far less success influencing the Trump administration because Wall Street — which he identified as a key ally for Beijing — was unable to “control” Donald Trump.
- Di’s remarks have surfaced in the wake of a warning from the U.S.’s top counterintelligence official, who said last week that there has been an uptick in Beijing’s efforts to influence incoming Biden administration employees.
The Chinese government will rely on a “core circle” of “old friends” on Wall Street and in Washington to influence the Biden administration, according to a Chinese academic with ties to the communist regime.
Di Dongsheng, the associate dean of the School of International Relations at Renmin University, offered his predictions about China-U.S. relations in the upcoming administration during a speech in Shanghai on Nov. 28.
Di asserted that Beijing was unable to fully respond to a “trade war” that President Donald Trump waged because the Republican was invulnerable to influence by Wall Street.
“Wall Street had a very profound influence over America’s domestic and foreign affairs since the 1970s. We used to heavily rely on them,” Di said at the event, according to The Washington Times .
Di asserted that Wall Street was unable to “control” Trump, which had a negative impact on China during its trade standoff with the U.S.
“I’m going to drop a bomb,” Di continued, “we had people up there inside America’s core circle of power, we had our old friends.”
“During the last three to four decades, we used the core circle inside America’s real power,” Di said.
But Di asserted that U.S.-China relations would be on the mend under Biden because of his administration’s close ties to Wall Street.
“Now with Biden winning the election, the traditional elites, political elites, the establishment, they have a very close relationship with the Wall Street,” Di said.
Di gave a nod to his communist party pedigree during his Shanghai speech.
He told a story of an event he helped arrange for Gua Weimin, a deputy director of the Chinese government’s foreign propaganda office, in 2015 in Washington, D.C. to promote a book written by Xi Jinping.
Di and Weimin appeared at an event held at Politics & Prose, a popular independent bookstore in Washington. Weimin serves as deputy director of China’s State Council Information Office, which controls Beijing’s foreign propaganda efforts.
Chinese state-controlled media outlet China Daily wrote about the event, saying that the turnout showed that Xi’s book was “proving a popular read” in the U.S.
Di also suggested in his speech in Shanghai that the Chinese government supported Hunter Biden’s business deals in China.
“You all heard that Trump said Biden’s son has securities companies all over the world. But who helped Biden’s son build his global companies?” Di said.
“There are indeed buy-and-sell transactions involved in here. So I think at this particular time, it is of strategic and tactical value for us to show goodwill.”
Hunter Biden had several business deals in China, including one with CEFC China Energy, a major energy conglomerate whose owner has links to the communist party. CEFC wired Biden millions of dollars in 2017, according to a Senate report released in September.
Di’s remarks have surfaced as top U.S. counterintelligence officials have heightened warnings about Beijing’s covert efforts to influence U.S. policy, both in Congress and the Biden administration.
William Evanina, the top counterintelligence official at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, warned last week that U.S. officials have seen a spike in Chinese operatives trying to cozy up to Biden associates.
“We’ve also seen an uptick, which was planned and we predicted, that China would now re-vector their influence campaigns to the new administration,” Evanina said at a cybersecurity forum.
“And when I say that, that malign foreign influence, that diplomatic influence plus, or on steroids, we’re starting to see that now play across the country to not only the folks starting in the new administration, but those who are around those folks in the new administration.”
Several of Biden’s incoming advisers have long called for stronger diplomatic ties to Beijing, and for viewing China as an ally instead of a competitor. One of Biden’s key advisers, Steve Ricchetti, played an integral role in helping the Clinton administration pass a bill in 2000 that established Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with China.
Clinton tasked Ricchetti, his deputy chief of staff, with wrangling votes in Congress to support PNTR.
Jake Sullivan , who Biden has tapped as his national security adviser, has criticized President Trump’s China policies and called for working more closely with Beijing. He appeared on Beijing-controlled news outlet CGTN in December 2017 to criticize Trump over his policy in Israel.
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Why is it that Joe Biden looks older in that picture with Xi than he does now?
It must be massive doses of infant adrenachrome!
No surprise.
I read another article on this story. It said something to the effect that chinese spies targeted democrat politicians. Why would china target democrats? Do they think dems are more likely to sell out their country! Do they think dems are too stupid to realize they are being played? Whatever the reason, they target dems because they feel dems will further their agenda.
(Image posted with apologies to Zuksam)
Hasn't anybody heard about the 18 or 20 CIA agents who got caught spying in China? Makes the expression "Don't do as I do, but do as I say" come to life.
Personally, I think attempting to influence American politicians to normalize relations between the USA and China is nothing exceptional worth criticizing. Normalized relations would benefit the people of both nations. So what's the big deal about that? Of course I'm not speaking as an American isolationist who covets Trump's policies.
You think it is news that we spy on China.
We spy on everyone. Enemies, Allies, US citizens, and even political opponents when the mood strikes whoever is in power and they think they can get away with it.
It's not news to me, and it shouldn't be news to anyone, so it's hypocritical to criticize other countries alleging that THEY spy on the USA.
In fact the USA just launched a highly advanced "Spy Satellite" with its mission kept secret. It's openly acknowledged that it is a spy satellite, in headlines on major news media, because the USA is so PROUD of its spying capabilities. But God forbid some other country shoud spy on the USA.
Wrong, you think other countries are silent when they catch the US spying on them?
Try the hell again.
Yes, Buzz that is the damn game- [deleted]
Everyone spies on everyone; and when a country catches another country spying on them they raise a huge damn stink about it.
So yes, we are always trying to stop the Chinese from spying on us, along with everyone else; and when we catch them we are going to always raise a stink about it!
Did I say they WERE silent? Your comment is "Blowing in the Wind".
Photoshopped memes are not evidence of anything but juvenile rightwing imaginations!
AH....I never thought I'd hear you say it!
AMEN!
I can't open it, so your comment means nothing to me.
It's for the best.
Let's just say it was directed at Eric Swalwell.
Okay.
Eric Swalwell sits on the House Intelligence Committee and is privy to all kinds of classified Intelligence information. He has now declined to talk to reporters with the notable exception of POLITICO. ( )
Must be a slow day for partisan garbage when we rehash old shit from 2011 - 2015 to try to besmirch our American brothers and sisters.
But Biden.....
[deleted] but this story is less than a couple days old and is still developing. Try to be less obvious.
Insults aside Sean, the story is in excess of 5 years old and a similar thing happened to Feinstein in the same time period.
Like Slalwell, the FBI informed her in 2015 and like Slalwell, she terminated the relationship.
When the story meant something politically in 2018 suddenly, for Feinstein it was newsworthy for the opposition.
It wasn't then and it isn't for Slalwell now.
Try to be more open minded.
Income tax. Not much of a story.
Really? Can you point to a published story about this from 5 years ago? Although I'll note your belief that nohting that happened in the recent past is worth talking about. I can't wait to watch you apply that standard across the board..
similar thing happened to Feinstein in the same time period.
It is interesting that the CCP is able to get so close to Democratic politicians.
Imagine thinking the frequency of CCP spies working for Democrats somehow makes it less of a story.....
It wasn't then and it isn't for Slalwell now.
Of course Democrats don't care if their leaders keep hiring Chinese spies. No surprise there.
Is that also how you feel/felt about the Trump income tax bullshit? Just curious
JJ, when did anyone elect Hunter Biden for anything?
He can pay his back taxes and lawyers like the rest of us or possibly go to jail.
Like the POTUS he could be given a chance to amend his errant filings
or not and face his day in court, which is more likely than DJT ever facing Federal charges.
Until the other politicians and mayors are identified by party
you are way out on a limb.
Isn't it a bit curious that none are identified at all?
Maybe it doesn't fit the partisan narrative.
Maybe we'll have to wait another 5 years to find out?
Let me know when this shit is unique to either party.
I won't hold my breath.
F.B.I. Once Warned G.O.P. Congressman That Russian Spies
What year was that MAGA? 2017& 2018 ?
The FBI warned Slawell and Feinstein off of Fang in 2015, she disappeared back to China immediately,
but it's not your fault.
You aren't AFBranco who apparently has no problem with fake news if it sells a cartoon.
It's funny how you keep making my points for me. At first, you claimed there it wasn't news because it happened it happened in the past and thus was a "non-story." Yet you then helpfully point out that the Democrats newspaper of record did, in fact, make a big deal about a Republican congressman receiving a defensive briefing about a Russian spy years before the article was written, and a quick google search indicates the left wing media publicized this story until he was out of Congress.
Yet, somehow, when it's a Democratic Congressman in contact with a spy, it's "not a story" and "old shit."
No surprise.
No surprise you live in the past. It all happened prior to 2015 and was "exposed" and exploited in 2018,
yet you think it is somehow 'topical' in 2020.
The House and Senate have had 5 long years to exploit Slalwell's story.
Why now?
The invincibility of Trump is slipping?
Many others will probably come out with unknown connections to China or Russia, we shall see.
When it happens, no surprise. regardless of who it happened to.
You being partisan, no surprise either.
Am anxiously awaiting the revelations of truth and justice to force Americans to comprehend and understand why the American right wing Russian enablers are deservedly referred to as The American Quislings.
How, exactly, has the American right wing "enabled" Russia.
I'm sure you have lots of examples..
You have it 'bassakwards.'
Russia, Russia, Russia.
For 5 damn years the same debunked bullshit.
Meanwhile Democrats are in bed with China, the true world threat to the US.
Looks to me that there are Trump supporters who are so biased and pernicious that they are determined to undermine any possibility of a beneficial normalizing of relations with China. And that is so hypocritical when they are so proud that their dear leader has taken credit for normalizing relations between Israel and Arab countries.
Trump planted his own operative Flynn on Putin's lap. If this guy is a bad egg, he should be removed. Those pointing accusing fingers in the hopes that it will wound Biden should remember that 3 fingers are pointing back at them.
Zi is the face of evil in this world
When did Trump change his name?
We are going to have lots of fun with the three fingers:
And sometimes, four. It's called the "Clinton Thumb".
All four fingers pointing back at him with the thumb laying on top ........and it caught on like wildfire. LOL
"He should not sit on the House Intelligence Committee and have access to classified information," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark, told " America's Newsroom " on Thursday. "Nancy Pelosi needs to answer what she knew and when she knew it. If Eric Swalwell was briefed about this woman in 2015, surely Nancy Pelosi, the House leader, a member of the Gang of Eight, which has access to the most classified secrets of our nation's government, knew it as well, that she kept him on the House Intelligence Committee for these last five years. They both have a lot of questions to answer and they need to do so in public today."
Nancy can leave him there and Republicans will be using it & the Biden investigation for those GA runoff elections. Soon as the election was over all the suppressed news came oozing out on the democrats.
CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA
Seems to be a bit of an extremely paranoid obsession with some people. Where is the right place to put a person with extremely paranoid obsessions?