Rep. Eric Swalwel, whose connections to a Chinese spy were recently made public, has been named as one of nine impeachment managers announced to before the Senate in President Trump’s second impeachment trial.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the list Tuesday night.
“Congressman Swalwell serves on House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where he chairs the Intelligence Modernization and Readiness Subcommittee, and on the Judiciary Committee,” Pelosi’s office said in a statement. “He is a former prosecutor and is the son and brother of law enforcement officers. He is serving his fifth term in Congress.”
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Swalwell posted on Twitter to criticize Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, as the “Coup Klux Klan” in connection with the riot at the Capitol last Wednesday. They were among a group of Republicans who protested the validation of President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory in a joint session of Congress that was interrupted by the riot. He has also accused other Republicans of fraternizing with “terrorists.”
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calf., votes to approve the second article of impeachment against President Donald Trump during a House Judiciary Committee meeting, Friday, Dec. 13, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool)
Swalwell was reportedly among the last lawmakers to leave the House floor amid the chaos, according to his hometown paper, the San Francisco Chronicle.
He has been a leading voice in calling for Trump’s impeachment in the wake of the seige.
“The President and Republican seditionists in Congress incited a violent coup attempt on the U.S. Capitol,” he said in a statement last Thursday. “Because of brave law enforcement and military officers, the effort to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election failed. But this terrorist attack has put our experiment in self-governance on life support.”
The impeachment managers include other prominent Trump critics like Reps. Jamie Raskin, the lead manager, Ted Lieu and Joaquin Castro. But Swalwell has recently faced calls to exit the House Intelligence Committee and harsh criticism for remaining mum on past links to a suspected Chinese Communist Party spy.
He allegedly first met the spy, Fang Fang or Christine Fang, after she arrived under the guise of an exchange student in 2011. He cut ties with her in 2015 after the FBI flagged him to her. But his father and brother appeared on her Facebook friends list until December 2020.
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Critics have said he should have been transparent about the incident to minimize further damage to Americans – as spies could likely fish for a range of information just by being someone’s Facebook friend.
Fang was also friends with at least two California mayors until December and in the past allegedly had sexual relationships with a pair of Midwestern mayors.
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House leaders plan to impeach Trump in connection with a Capitol siege last Wednesday that occurred after he spoke to a throng of supporters in Washington, and reiterated unproven claims of election fraud and that he had won the 2020 presidential election. The ensuing violence left at least five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer. They accused him of inciting an insurrection.
The other impeachment managers are Reps. Diana DeGette, David Cicilline, Stacey Plaskett, Joe Neguse, and Madeleine Dean.
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