Biden mum on Rep. Swalwell's links to suspected Chinese spy

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Former CIA station chief on Rep. Swalwell reportedly being linked to Chinese spy

Dan Hoffman provides analysis on 'America's Newsroom' about a report that Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., had ties to a Chinese spy.

President-elect Joe Biden has remained silent on a report that linked Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell to an alleged Chinese spy who targeted up-and-coming politicians both locally and nationally during the Obama administration. 

A spokesperson for Biden did not respond to multiple Fox News requests for comment about the report.

Axios reported Monday that a Chinese national named Fang Fang or Christina Fang, allegedly an operative for China's Ministry of State Security, the country's top intelligence organization, developed extensive ties with a group of prominent Bay Area politicians, including Swalwell, between 2011 and 2015.

Fang took part in fundraising activity for Swalwell's 2014 reelection campaign against Republican challenger Hugh Bussell, Axios reported, citing a Bay Area political operative and a current U.S. intelligence official. She had also helped to place an intern in his office.

Swalwell's office did not respond to a Fox News inquiry about whether the representative had spoken with the president-elect over the report.

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At one point around 2015, federal investigators, who had been monitoring Fang's activities, became so alarmed by her behavior that they alerted Swalwell and gave him a defensive briefing. Following that, Swalwell severed ties with Fang, Axios reported. He is not suspected of any improper actions in his dealings with her.

In a statement to Axios, Swalwell's office said the representative "long ago, provided information about this person – whom he met more than eight years ago, and whom he hasn’t seen in nearly six years – to the FBI. To protect information that might be classified, he will not participate in your story."

Fang purposely targeted California lawmakers because some of the nation's most powerful politicians got their start in Bay Area politics.  

Swalwell rose to the national scene in 2012, when he defeated longtime Democratic incumbent Pete Stark in 2012, a stunning upset. Fang also reportedly targeted Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii. 

Although Fang had interactions with other lawmakers, Swalwell told Politico that he believes his dealings with her were intentionally leaked in order to hurt him politically since he's been a vocal critic of President Trump.

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“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 the news outlet. “The timing feels like that should be looked at.” 

The report comes one week after Bill Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said China has already started targeting Biden and his team. 

Speaking on a panel at the Aspen Institute's virtual Cyber Summit last week, Evanina said Beijing is conducting its operation "on steroids," but said his agency had anticipated such attacks. 

"We've also seen an uptick, which was planned and we predicted, that China would now revector their influence campaigns to the new administration," he said. "And when I say that – that malign foreign influence, that diplomatic influence plus or on steroids – we're starting to see that play across the country to not only the folks starting in the new administration, but those who are around those folks."

Evanina did not provide any specifics, but said the agency would work with Biden's transition team to identify the attacks.

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Biden has given scant details about how he plans to handle China – which many lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle consider to be a top adversary – upon assuming office. 

The incoming president has said that he will not immediately remove the Trump administration's tariffs on Chinese exports. Instead, Biden said he plans to review the phase one trade deal that Trump inked with China nearly one year ago. The deal, signed at the beginning of January, requires China to purchase some $200 billion in additional U.S. goods over the course of two years – a commitment that Beijing is nowhere close to meeting.

"I'm not going to make any immediate moves, and the same applies to the tariffs," Biden told The New York Times. "I’m not going to prejudice my options.”

Relations with China deteriorated under Trump, who made it a campaign priority to shrink the trade disparities between the U.S. and its allies. For nearly two years, the world's two largest economies engaged in a tit-for-tat trade war until Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a partial trade deal in January 2020.

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Under the agreement, the White House left in place a 25% tariff on about $250 billion in Chinese products.

Biden said he wants to conduct a full review of the existing agreement with China before making any decisions and consult with America's traditional Asian and European allies to "develop a coherent strategy."

“The best China strategy, I think, is one which gets every one of our – or at least what used to be our – allies on the same page. It’s going to be a major priority for me in the opening weeks of my presidency to try to get us back on the same page with our allies," he said.

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