WASHINGTON — FBI Director Kash Patel has ordered bureau personnel to assemble and review investigative materials tied to Rep. Eric Swalwell’s past interactions with an alleged Chinese intelligence operative, three people familiar with the directive told SourceRated on Friday.
The sources said agents in the San Francisco and Los Angeles field offices were given a one-week deadline to identify, scan and preliminarily redact documents generated during a counter-intelligence probe that began in 2012 and quietly ended without charges in 2016. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.
Swalwell (D-Calif.) became the focus of political scrutiny in late 2020 after reports that a suspected Chinese spy, known publicly as “Fang Fang” or Christine Fang, had cultivated relationships with several Bay Area officials. While the FBI briefed congressional leaders on the matter and Swalwell cut ties with Fang, the bureau never alleged wrongdoing. Still, House Republicans cited the episode in 2023 when Speaker Kevin McCarthy removed Swalwell from the Intelligence Committee.
“The director believes transparency in high-profile counter-intelligence cases can strengthen public trust, provided sources and methods are protected,” said one senior law-enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Any disclosure, however, would face multiple hurdles. By law, grand-jury material and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act affidavits must be withheld unless a federal court authorizes release. “DOJ attorneys will have final say,” a second official noted, adding that the department’s National Security Division has not yet begun its own review.
A spokesperson for Swalwell said the congressman “has consistently cooperated with the FBI” and would welcome the publication of files “that show he was an asset, not a target, in the effort to counter foreign interference.” Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), argued that making the records public is essential. “Americans deserve to see what the bureau found and why Democrat leadership kept Mr. Swalwell on Intel for years,” Banks said in a statement.
National-security analysts are split on the precedent the move could set. “Releasing raw counter-intelligence product is almost unheard of and could chill future investigations,” warned former CIA lawyer Brian Greer. Others say selective transparency could become a political tool heading into the 2024 election cycle.
The FBI has not given a timetable for completion of the review, but officials indicated that a declassified summary could be sent to Capitol Hill before the August recess if legal objections are resolved.