Flashback: Eric Swalwell accused Don Trump Jr. of meeting ‘Russian spy’

close

Video

Rep. Swalwell under fire for connection with alleged Chinese spy, blames Trump for report

House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney weighs in on 'The Daily Briefing.'

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., who a was a target of a Chinese spy between 2011 and 2015, accused Donald Trump Jr. last year of meeting "with a Russian spy."

The Chinese national, Fang Fang or Christine Fang, placed at least one intern in Swalwell's congressional office and helped raise funds for his 2014 re-election campaign, according to Axios. 

Federal investigators alerted Swalwell about Fang's behavior during a counterintelligence probe in 2015, prompting the former presidential candidate to cut off all ties with her, according to Axios. 

Swalwell's office did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. 

FBI STEPPED IN AFTER SUSPECTED CHINESE SPY GOT CLOSE TO SWALWELL, OTHER POLITICIANS, REPORT FINDS

Swalwell has been a vocal critic of President Trump, who he said Tuesday could be the source of the leaked information about the Chinese spy. 

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

Swalwell has been especially critical of a June 2016 meeting that President Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., held with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a well-connected Russian lawyer who said through an intermediary that she had dirt on Hillary Clinton. 

"Stated plainly, the President's son met with a Russian spy," Swalwell said on MSNBC in January 2019. 

"We now have the best evidence of that in our minority report the Democrats put out that Ms. Veselnitskaya was going all over the world and bumping into Dana Rohrabacher, which is a sign of a spy, someone who tries to create a coincidence encounter, and now we know that she was working at the behest of the Russian government."

SWALWELL REFUSES TO EXPLAIN RELATIONSHIP WITH SUSPECTED CHINESE SPY ACCUSED OF AFFAIRS WITH MAYORS

Donald Trump Jr. seized on the report Wednesday, accusing Swalwell of "literally sleeping with a Chinese spy" while accusing him of being "an agent of Russia."

Axios did not report that Swalwell had a romantic relationship with Fang, though she did reportedly engage in romantic relationships with at least two mayors of Midwestern cities. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Trump Jr. also questioned if Swalwell will hold on to his seat on the House Intelligence Committee, which the Congressman says he will maintain. 

“As the story referenced, this goes back to the beginning of the last decade, and it’s something that congressional leadership knew about it," he told Politico. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.