Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene ripped into California Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell during Wednesday’s House Committee on Homeland Security hearing, mocking him for his sexual relationship with a Chinese spy during a tense exchange.
During the hearing, which was mainly an opportunity for GOP lawmakers to grill Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, Swalwell accused Rep. MTG of “anti-police rhetoric,” showing the hearing a print-out of a tweet she wrote promoting “Defund the FBI”.
Green then counter-attacked Rep. Swalwell over his sexual relationship with Fang Fang, a Chinese spy, saying, “That was quite entertaining from someone that had a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy. And everyone knows it!”
MTG calls out Eric Swalwell for having a “sexual relationship with a Chinese spy.”
GREENE: "That was quite entertaining from someone that had a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy. And everyone knows it!"pic.twitter.com/U2wgS2zptD
— Patriot Alerts (@alerts___) April 19, 2023
That then provoked a controversy in the House, with New York Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman shouting, “I move to take her words down. Completely inappropriate!”
Then the committee chairman, Tennessee Republican Rep. Mark Green, asked what it was that Rep. Goldman wanted to be deleted from the record. Rep. Goldman answered, saying, “Everything that the gentlelady from Georgia has said.”
Rep. Green wasn’t having it. Firing back, he said, “No, you need to be more specific.” Rep. Goldman then got to what really bothered him, which was MTG calling out Swalwell’s Red China connection, saying, “The accusations of an affair with a Chinese spy. Those are engaging in personalities.”
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Green then looked things over for a few minutes before he declared, “The chair rules that those words that were spoken are not going to be stricken from the record.”
Predictably, that got the Democrats raging, with Mississippi Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson saying, “I don’t think there’s any question about what the gentlelady has said … We have never had an accusation made of any member like that and I’m appalled by it. We all ought to be embarrassed by it.”
That is untrue, as the House received a briefing on Swalwell’s relationship with Fang Fang and he was removed from the House Intelligence Committee because of it. As the New York Post reported:
It’s unclear if Swalwell has ever specifically denied having a sexual relationship with Fang, who reportedly returned to China in 2015 as US authorities became aware of her conduct.
Swalwell received a “defensive briefing” from the FBI, also in 2015, after Fang reportedly fundraised for his campaign and placed an intern in his office.
Most, if not all, of Swalwell’s GOP colleagues, including on the House Intelligence Committee, were unaware of his ties to Fang before a bombshell 2020 report in Axios exposed her operation, in which she also allegedly seduced two Midwestern mayors. Swalwell’s brother and father remained Facebook friends with Fang until after her role was publicly revealed.
House Republicans booted Swalwell from the intelligence committee this year, citing the relationship.
Swalwell wasn’t the only target of Rep. MTG’s ire during the meeting. She also attacked Mayorkas, saying, “How many more people do we have to watch die … how long are you going to continue this outrage, complete outrage, where China is poisoning America’s children?”
Responding, he said, “We are not letting it go on, we are fighting the scourge.” She then attacked him again, saying, “You are a liar, you are letting this go on and the numbers prove it.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video