OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell lost his cool during a hearing on Wednesday after a Republican lawmaker mentioned his reported past sexual relationship with a suspected female Chinese spy.
Swalwell and Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) were participating in a hearing held by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement on the exploitation of unaccompanied migrant children, the Daily Caller noted.
“Ms. Rodriguez, I apologize that you had to — you’re here for a hearing on the border, they don’t want to talk about a border. Mr. Swalwell is down there, obviously everybody knows he’s made some comments, he’s got a checkered past,” Nehls said as Swalwell interrupted him.
“I’m sorry — I have a checkered past?” Swalwell interrupted.
“It’s my time,” Nehls said in response, continuing. “Alleged affairs, relationships with Yum Yum…”
“You don’t get to say that shit. That’s not true,” Swalwell responded forcefully.
“He had an alleged relationship with Yum Yum, now he’s angry,” Nehls added.
WATCH:
Rep. Troy Nehls calls out Eric Swalwell for having an affair with “Yum Yum” 😂
Her name was actually Fang Fang 😂
Damn that was enjoyable. pic.twitter.com/wJO8ez8vR5
— TheStormHasArrived (@TheStormRedux) April 26, 2023
Nehls was likely alluding to a reported relationship between Swalwell and Christine Fang, also known as Fang Fang, a suspected Chinese spy. According to an investigation by Axios in December 2020, Fang had purportedly established connections with Swalwell and other California politicians from 2011 to 2015.
As per Axios’ report, Fang purportedly raised campaign contributions for Swalwell and arranged for an intern to work in his Congressional office. She allegedly had ties to the Chinese Ministry of State Security and reportedly engaged in sexual relationships with two mayors from midwestern cities in the United States.
“Swalwell has denied any wrongdoing in his relationship with Fang. He was removed from the House Intelligence Committee by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in January for the alleged relationship with Fang,” The Daily Caller noted.
Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert in January praised McCarthy for honoring his pledge to remove a handful of controversial Democrats from their committee assignments including Swalwell.
During an interview on Fox News, Boebert spoke with then-host Dan Bongino about McCarthy fulfilling one of his promises to boot Democrat Reps. Adam Schiff and Swalwell from the Intelligence Committee. McCarthy was also prepared to prevent Minnesota Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar from being on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“You heard what McCarthy said, they won’t have Swalwell on any committee. Joining me, is Lauren Boebert. Seriously, Swalwell is a disaster. We know about the scandal with ‘fang fang.’ How is this guy still on the intel committee getting briefings?” Bongino asked Boebert.
“Thank you for providing cover for us. We are fighting for these legislative wins we received. These fun times amount to changes. As far as Swalwell. The last Congress congressman was removed from his committee because he made a video. But little Eric took a walk and refused to take the vote,” she said.
“He’s compromised and he should be nowhere near secret classified information. Dan: Adam Schiff as well. He wasted six years of our life fantasizing about some Trump peepee tape that didn’t exist. Then he got busted trying to push another hoax about Russians and Devin Nunes,” Boebert added.
“They are showing their colors. They are a bunch of conspiracy theorists that have witch hunts and hoaxes they chase after. They wanted Trump in jail over classified documents. With Biden, it’s let’s wait and see. They attacked Don Jr. and praised Hunter Biden,” the Colorado Republican noted further.
“If it was a Republican caught with a Chinese spy, what would they do? They would be all over it. But the fake news, they would be running 24/7. And most Americans haven’t heard about everything that’s going on. Not only has gone back to Swalwell, but he was also a subcommittee chair. And in one hand he’s holding a gavel and in the other hand, he’s holding a hammer and sickle,” she said.
Swalwell has maintained his innocence and frequently notes that he broke off his contact with Fang after being alerted by the FBI that she could be a spy. He also said the bureau had cleared him of any national security risk.
