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Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell is alleging that information about his ties to a suspected Chinese spy were leaked to the press in retribution for his vocal criticism of President Trump.
“I’ve been a critic of the president. I’ve spoken out against him. I was on both committees that worked to impeach him,” Swalwell told Politico on Tuesday. “The timing feels like that should be looked at.”
Between 2011 and 2015, a suspected Chinese intelligence operative, Christine Fang, developed relationships with Swalwell and a number of other American politicians, particularly in the Bay Area, as part of a Chinese political intelligence operation, a year-long Axios investigation found.
Fang, believed to have been acting at the behest of China’s Ministry of State Security, helped fundraise for Swalwell’s 2014 re-election campaign and helped place at least one intern in the California Democrat’s office.