Eric Swalwell, the California congressman running for governor, is breaking his silence on the Fang Fang Chinese spy scandal, dismissing it as “lies” while records show his campaign fund paid $305,000 in legal fees to a white-collar criminal defense firm over the years the scandal played out.
“The air was cleared immediately by the FBI when there was even a suggestion of wrongdoing,” Swalwell told the Sources Say podcast, as reported by the New York Post. “Independent folks have said enough on this, and for me, defamation is the highest form of flattery.”
Christine Fang, known as “Fang Fang,” was a suspected Chinese intelligence operative who built ties to Swalwell starting when he was a Dublin, California city council member. She bundled donations for his 2014 reelection campaign, recommended staff for his congressional office, and cultivated sexual relationships with at least two Midwestern mayors, according to an Axios investigation.
Federal investigators grew alarmed enough by Fang’s activities to give Swalwell a “defensive briefing” around 2015, after he had been assigned to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, a post with access to some of the most sensitive national security information in the U.S. government.
Swalwell’s campaign committee, Swalwell for Congress, paid $305,000 to the San Francisco law firm Coblentz Patch Duffy Bass between 2016 and 2023, according to campaign records. The firm specializes in civil litigation and white-collar criminal defense, not election law. Individual payments ranged from $250 to more than $36,000.
A campaign spokesperson told KCRA the payments covered legal guidance as President Trump launched “retaliatory investigations” that put the congressman’s “family and staff at risk.” Attorney Rees Morgan confirmed he was retained to ensure staff “remained fully compliant with applicable laws and prepared for potential contact from politically motivated actors.”
Neither the FBI nor a House ethics committee found wrongdoing on Swalwell’s part, but Republicans have continued pressing the issue. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy ordered the Ethics Committee probe when he took the Speaker’s gavel in 2021.
“Kevin McCarthy wanted to create a thing,” Swalwell said in the podcast. “There’s nothing I can do if someone is just trying to do the president’s bidding.”
The scandal surfaced publicly in December 2020 when Axios reported on Fang’s activities. McCarthy later stripped Swalwell from the Intelligence Committee in early 2023 when he became Speaker, citing national security concerns. Swalwell called that move politically motivated.
The story has resurfaced as Swalwell runs as the Democratic frontrunner in California’s 2026 gubernatorial race. Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy also revived the controversy this month, posting a photo of Swalwell alongside Fang and writing: “Call me crazy I like my politicians not to get tricked by foreign spies.”
Swalwell has held California’s 14th Congressional District since 2013. He previously ran for president in 2019 before dropping out.
