Dems Defeat Effort to Remove Swalwell From Intel Comittee

The Democrat-controlled House on Thursday beat back an effort to remove Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., from the House Intelligence Committee because of his close association with a woman accused by federal intelligence agencies of being a Chinese spy.

The measure put forth by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was defeated virtually along party lines 218-200.

McCarthy filed a two-page House resolution demanding Swalwell's removal from the committee — which is privy to some of the most secretive information in the U.S. — over his ties to alleged Chinese spy Fang Fang, also known as Christine Fang, who had helped raise money for Swalwell's campaigns and helped place an intern in his office.

Swalwell "has not denied public reporting that a suspected Chinese intelligence operative helped raise money for Rep. Swalwell's political campaigns" and "other troublesome elements of public reporting," according to a copy of the resolution obtained by Fox News.

Swalwell has disclosed relatively little about his link to Fang and has resisted calls to step down from any committee assignments since the matter was first reported in December.

Fang is alleged to have had multiple sexual relationships with elected officials, including at least two Midwestern mayors, according to Axios. She left the U.S. in 2015 amid the FBI investigation into her activities, and Swalwell immediately cut all ties with her after the FBI informed him about the probe.

Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the intelligence committee chairman, defended Swalwell in a letter to colleagues on Thursday calling him a ''trusted member of our committee'' and writing that he had ''acted fully in accordance with his responsibilities'' after the 2015 counterintelligence briefing.