Newly declassified FBI memos released Monday by the White House Government Transparency Task Force show the bureau developed evidence that Chinese national Fang Fang, who was tied to China’s Ministry of State Security, whose parents agents identified as known MSS officers, and whom the FBI was actively recruiting as a confidential informant under the code name “Rusty Thumbs”, potentially compromised then-Rep. Eric Swalwell with sex, foreign interns, and illicit campaign donations.
According to the files, the FBI opened a predicated investigation in 2014 (codenamed “Freshman Fifteen”) after identifying Fang as the facilitator of a scheme trading access and internships in Swalwell’s office for contributions routed through U.S. citizen conduits. Agents found she used conduits to conceal herself as a prohibited foreign national donor at least four times in 2013-2014 and caught her directly soliciting donations while promising reimbursement.
In FBI interviews, Swalwell admitted to a sexual relationship with Fang on multiple occasions, confirmed his staff placed interns she referred, and raised concerns about staff handling of campaign finance paperwork. The bureau initially wanted to investigate Swalwell for a bribery scheme but later dropped him as a subject, narrowing the case to Fang. The Justice Department declined to prosecute Fang after she fled to China around May 2015 amid interviews and a home search; early stages of the probe were overseen in part by prosecutor Jack Smith. The investigation closed in 2017.
