| Also submitted by Besoeker. |
Rep. Eric Swalwell, a top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and candidate for California governor, relentlessly pressed to release all the Jeffrey Epstein files — even if innocent people were implicated — going so far as to suggest withholding funding to the Justice Department.
"If the president is not implicated, then why not release everything?" Swalwell asked FBI Director Kash Patel in a tense exchange at a congressional hearing late last year that typified his pressure campaign.
But Swalwell’s tone on unlimited transparency shifted markedly last week when he learned the Trump White House might release a long-secret trove of files showing Chinese infiltrations into American politics and elections dating back more than a decade.
Those files, Swalwell fears, may include an FBI counterintelligence probe into the congressman’s relationship with a suspected Chinese intelligence asset named Christine Fang, also known as "Fang Fang," according to a letter his lawyers sent to Patel. Swalwell has consistently denied any wrongdoing in his dealings with Fang, who reportedly helped Swalwell with fundraising and placing an intern in his office during the 2014 campaign cycle.
Now with his own reputation in the line of fire in a government transparency operation, Swalwell is threatening to sue Patel if the FBI boss complies with a request to send the Fang files to the Trump White House along with other evidence of Chinese election influence operations.
"The Congressman has never been accused of wrongdoing in that matter and your attempt to release the file is a transparent attempt to smear him and undermine his campaign for Governor of California," Swalwell’s attorneys Norm Eisen and Sean Hecker wrote Patel. "Your actions threaten to expose you, others at the FBI, and the FBI itself to significant legal liability."
Swalwell’s office and Eisen did not immediately respond Sunday to a request for comment from Just the News.
But on social media, Swalwell has suggested he’s a victim and any release of the Fang counterintelligence files would sabotage his California gubernatorial campaign. "The reason Trump is so desperately trying to stop me is not because I’m running for Governor of California, but because now I’m the favorite," Swalwell posted on X.