Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California accused President Donald Trump of trying to unfairly derail his gubernatorial campaign over new developments in his Chinese spy scandal.
Swalwell’s 2014 re-election campaign had gotten fundraising help from a woman named Christine Fang, who is believed to have had ties with Chinese intelligence. She also helped place an intern in his office.
‘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.’
Swalwell has previously denied any wrongdoing and accused Republicans of exaggerating the scandal in order to damage his political career.
On Saturday, both the Washington Post and the New York Times reported that Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel was seeking to release files related to the Fang investigation.
Swalwell responded to the report by reiterating his accusations.
“Through great reporting, we now know 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 responded, referring to mortgage fraud accusations that had been dismissed.
“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,” he added. “What Trump wants the most is to have a Western White House. An enabler on the opposite coast. A lot of people have bent the knee to this administration. But I will not. And neither will the people of California.”
A spokesperson for the FBI denied any political motivation in their file releases.
“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 told the Washington Post.
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Recent polling indicates that Swalwell has pulled ahead of the other Democratic gubernatorial candidates but is still behind two Republican candidates.
Fang has also been connected to other California Democrats, including Rep. Ro Khanna, Judy Chu, and former Rep. Mike Honda.
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