Newly released FBI interview records show former Rep. Eric Swalwell told federal agents he had "physical relations" with suspected Chinese intelligence operative Christine "Fang Fang" Fang on multiple occasions, admissions the California Democrat spent years refusing to confirm publicly.

The declassified documents, released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force as part of a broader effort to combat foreign threats to American elections, reveal that Swalwell sat for two FBI interviews, one in May 2015 and another in March 2016, at the bureau's Oakland, California, field office. In both sessions, he acknowledged a sexual relationship with a woman the FBI suspected of ties to China's Ministry of State Security, the country's chief intelligence agency. Fox News Digital reported on the contents of the files, which were first obtained by Just the News.

The records paint a picture of a freshman congressman who entered a casual sexual arrangement with a woman the FBI believed was operating on behalf of Beijing, and who funneled illegal campaign donations to his political operation through middlemen while steering Chinese-connected individuals into internships in his congressional office.

Swalwell described encounters as 'casual', FBI documents tell a broader story

The declassified interview summaries describe Swalwell's account in his own words. He told agents he first met Fang in 2012, and the two had a drink together a couple of weeks later. He said their physical relationship was "casual" and occurred on "a handful of occasions," with the last encounter taking place in March 2015. He insisted the two "never dated" and "never had a romantic relationship," though he acknowledged he believed Fang "may have wanted a more romantic relationship."

One encounter stood out in the records. Swalwell described Fang arriving at his apartment and banging on his door. The FBI summary noted that the two subsequently "hooked up," but added a striking detail: "Swalwell barely remembers the event because he had taken Ambien prior to FANG arriving."

For years before these records surfaced, Swalwell refused to say publicly whether his interactions with Fang were sexual or romantic. He dismissed the allegations as Republican attacks. The declassified files now show he was far more forthcoming with the FBI in private than he ever was with the public.

FBI probe codenamed 'Freshman Fifteen' tracked illegal donations and intern-for-contribution swaps

The sexual relationship was only one thread in a wider FBI investigation. The bureau's probe, codenamed "Freshman Fifteen," ran from May 2014 to May 2017 and examined potential bribery, conspiracy, excessive campaign contributions, and prohibited foreign-national donations. A June 2014 FBI memo stated that the investigation had "revealed that Fang Fang, a Chinese foreign national residing in the United States, is the facilitator of a scheme to trade internships in Congressman Eric Swalwell's Congressional office in return for campaign contributions," according to the declassified files.

FBI financial records indicated Fang used conduits, middlemen who donated in their own names, to conceal herself as a prohibited foreign-national source of political money. She orchestrated these conduit contributions to Swalwell's campaign at least twice in 2013 and at least twice more in 2014. In plain terms, a suspected foreign spy was laundering campaign cash to a sitting member of Congress.

Swalwell told agents he viewed anyone Fang put forward for an internship as coming through the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association, a civic organization she was connected to. But the FBI's own investigative memo described something more direct: a scheme in which campaign contributions bought access to congressional internship slots.

The current FBI, under Director Kash Patel, has accelerated its counterintelligence operations, a shift in posture that makes the years-long delay in surfacing these records all the more notable.

Agents suspected Fang's parents were Chinese intelligence officers

The declassified records go further than previously known in describing the FBI's assessment of Fang's intelligence ties. Agents suspected she had direct connections to China's Ministry of State Security, and the documents note that her parents were "reportedly considered known Chinese intelligence officers." The FBI even attempted to recruit Fang as a confidential source under the codename "RUSTY THUMBS", an effort that apparently failed.

Fang did not limit her influence efforts to campaign donations. Swalwell told agents that she "would generally mention that SWALWELL should go to CHINA." At a November 2014 election-night party, she extended a China travel invitation to someone in Swalwell's orbit. The pattern, sexual access, illegal donations, intern placement, and persistent encouragement to visit Beijing, tracks the profile of a classic intelligence-recruitment operation.

The FBI gave Swalwell a defensive briefing in late April 2015, warning him about foreign-intelligence targeting and specifically discussing Fang and her connections. Swalwell told agents he cut off contact with Fang after that first meeting with the bureau. His last physical encounter with her, he said, had occurred the month before the briefing, in March 2015.

Swalwell is hardly the only Democrat on Capitol Hill whose personal conduct has drawn scrutiny in recent years. Sen. Ruben Gallego faced questions about reported sexual relationships with congressional staffers, while Rep. Jimmy Gomez admitted to infidelity only after an exposé forced the issue.

No charges filed, but Fang violated federal election law, FBI concluded

The FBI ultimately removed Swalwell as a subject of the investigation in 2017, concluding it did not find evidence he committed federal corruption violations or participated in a quid-pro-quo scheme. The investigation was reclassified to focus solely on Fang. A May 2017 bureau memo stated that "prosecution is non-viable due to national security reasons," the New York Post reported.

The bureau did, however, find evidence that Fang herself violated federal election laws involving foreign-national and conduit contributions. A White House Government Transparency Task Force synopsis stated that "the FBI developed evidence that a Chinese woman with direct ties to that country's intelligence service had potentially compromised a Democratic congressman from California with sex, foreign interns and illicit donations."

Swalwell's legal counsel, Sara Azari, pushed back on the release. She told Just the News:

"There is nothing new here. The government's own memorandum confirms what Congressman Swalwell has said for more than a decade: he did nothing wrong, and there was no basis to charge him with any offense."

Azari called the release politically motivated, adding that "an investigation that produced no charges and no finding of wrongdoing should not be resurrected years later as a vehicle for political retaliation."

The "nothing new" defense is a stretch. Until these records were declassified, Swalwell had never publicly confirmed the sexual relationship. He spent years batting away questions about it and framing the entire matter as a partisan hit job. The FBI's own interview summaries, in Swalwell's own words to federal agents, now confirm what he refused to tell voters.

Years of denials crumble under Swalwell's own admissions

The timeline matters. Swalwell met Fang in 2012, before he entered Congress in 2013. The physical encounters, the records indicated, "probably" occurred before he won his seat, though the relationship and Fang's influence activities continued well into his tenure. She was funneling illegal donations to his campaign in 2013 and 2014, placing interns in his office, and pressing him to visit China while he served on Capitol Hill.

The FBI knew about all of this by 2015 at the latest. It took a presidential declassification order to put the details in front of the public. Fox News Digital reached out to Swalwell and his attorneys for comment on the newly released records but did not immediately receive a response.

Several major questions remain unanswered. The current whereabouts and legal status of Fang Fang are not addressed in the released records. Whether other elected officials appear in the broader declassified file is unclear. And the specific federal election law statutes the FBI believes Fang violated are not named in the documents as described.

What is clear is that a sitting member of Congress had a sexual relationship with a woman the FBI suspected of spying for Beijing, accepted laundered campaign money from her network, and allowed her to place individuals in his congressional office, then spent years telling the public it was all a smear. He is not the first Democrat to find that the facts eventually outrun the denials.

When a congressman's own words to the FBI contradict what he told voters for a decade, the public does not owe him the benefit of the doubt. It owes itself a harder look at who else got the same treatment, and who in Washington looked the other way.