Kash Patel has set his sights on the Trump administration’s newest Democratic target.
The FBI director, 46, is reportedly leading a behind-the-scenes push to release decade-old investigative files involving Rep. Eric Swalwell as part of a broader effort to bring a criminal case against him, according to The Washington Post.
Sources told the outlet that Patel recently instructed FBI agents in San Francisco to dig up and quickly redact files related to Swalwell, 45, and Christine Fang, a suspected Chinese spy who reportedly developed close ties to the congressman during his 2014 re-election campaign.
The Post reports that FBI leaders have also discussed possibly sending agents to China to see if Fang has any damaging information about Swalwell, or arranging a U.S. visa for her in exchange for intel on the California gubernatorial candidate, who just happens to be an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump.
More than a decade ago, the FBI investigated Fang over suspicions that she formed close relationships with American politicians, including Swalwell, as a political intelligence operative for China. She helped raise funds for Swalwell’s 2014 re-election campaign and helped install at least one intern in his office.
But no public evidence of wrongdoing against Swalwell was found, and a two-year House Ethics Committee probe into him ended in 2023 with the Republican-led panel deciding to “take no further action.”
Patel’s push to release files on Swalwell has raised concerns within the FBI about potentially compromising law enforcement sources and investigative methods, according to the Post.
The FBI did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment on Saturday. An agency spokesperson told the Post that the contentions in its story were “incorrect.”
“This FBI, being the most transparent in history, prepares documents for numerous different reasons, including for release to different agencies and departments to further review investigations that may have been opened under previous administrations,” the spokesperson said.
Sources also told The Washington Post that the FBI appears to be struggling to bring a criminal case against Swalwell. Last year, Trump’s Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte referred the Democratic lawmaker to the Justice Department for a criminal probe over allegations of mortgage and tax fraud linked to his Washington, D.C. home.
Swalwell, a longtime Trump critic who served as House impeachment manager during his second impeachment trial in 2021, blasted “the outrageous ends the White House will go to target political opponents.”
“As was Trump’s mortgage case against me, this decade-old story is, of course, nonsense,” Swalwell said in a statement. “The reason Trump is so desperately trying to stop me is not because I’m running for Governor of California, but because now I’m the favorite.”
“Kash Patel should be spending every moment trying to keep us safe. Not score political points,” he added.
