McCarthy Furious After Attempt to Kick Swalwell Off Intel Committee Fails

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Last updated on March 21st, 2021 at 02:59 pm

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) expressed his anger after the House of Representatives voted against his resolution to remove Representative Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) from the House Intelligence Committee over Swalwell’s relationship with an alleged Chinese spy.

Every Democrat is now on the record,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter. “They just voted to keep Eric Swalwell on the House Intelligence Committee—despite his long-standing relationship with a reported Chinese spy. They chose politics over national security.”

Every Democrat is now on the record: They just voted to keep Eric Swalwell on the House Intelligence Committee—despite his long-standing relationship with a reported Chinese spy.

They chose politics over national security.

— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) March 19, 2021

Swalwell was in McCarthy’s crosshairs amid reports of his relationship with an alleged Chinese spy named Fang Fang who helped raise money for his campaign and placed at least one intern in his office. The relationship, initially reported by Axios, gained further traction on Fox News.

Swalwell characterized the report as unfair and baseless, saying the report is an example of “new McCarthyism,” a nod to the McCarthy era of the 1950s which saw many innocent people brought down on allegations that they were affiliated with the Communist Party.

“Meet the New McCarthyism,” Swalwell tweeted. “Multiple sentences in resolution state ‘Swalwell has not denied…’ Yet fails to include multiple FBI statements of ‘no wrongdoing’ and did nothing but ‘cooperate.’”

Swalwell added that McCarthy’s attempt to remove him from the committee serves to deflect from McCarthy’s own support for the QAnon conspiracy theory, which alleges that Democrats are trafficking children and worked to undermine former President Donald Trump.

Meet the New McCarthyism. Multiple sentences in resolution state “Swalwell has not denied…” Yet fails to include multiple FBI statements of “no wrongdoing” and did nothing but “cooperate.” All of this to deflect from @GOPLeader’s support for QAnon. https://t.co/2bsU72ev8H

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) March 18, 2021

Swalwell has said he no longer has contact with Fang. Authorities have not charged him with wrongdoing. McCarthy’s resolution sought to remove him from the committee because he had not denied reports about his relationship with Fang.