Declassified FBI records: Swalwell admitted sexual relationship with suspected Chinese spy

Newly declassified FBI records reveal that former Representative Eric Swalwell admitted to federal agents that he had a sexual relationship with Christine Fang, a suspected Chinese intelligence operative, while she was allegedly funneling illegal campaign contributions to his political operation and placing interns in his congressional office. The documents, declassified by President Donald Trump and released on August 17, 2026, by the White House Government Transparency Task Force, provide the most detailed account yet of the decade-old counterintelligence investigation.

The files show that during interviews with the FBI in May 2015 and March 2016, Swalwell, a California Democrat, acknowledged having "physical relations" with Fang on a "handful of occasions," with the last encounter occurring in March 2015. In one instance described to agents, Fang arrived unannounced at his apartment late at night, after which they "hooked up." Swalwell indicated he had limited memory of that event because he had taken the sleep medication Ambien. He characterized the relationship as casual and non-romantic.

The FBI's investigation, code-named "Freshman Fifteen" and opened on March 17, 2014,...