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The Trump administration’s interest in reviving a long-closed investigation into California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell could backfire against it — by elevating his profile and boosting his on-the-bubble California gubernatorial campaign.
Swalwell has gone on the offensive following reports that FBI Director Kash Patel was pursuing the release of files from a decade-old investigation into the lawmaker’s connections to a suspected Chinese intelligence operative, Christine Fang. As Swalwell tries to break away from the crowded pack in the June 2 gubernatorial primary, some fellow Democrats believe the FBI’s move will end up benefiting Swalwell, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump.
“I do think it was a stupid move for Patel to threaten to release files of a long-closed investigation involving Swalwell,” said Garry South, a California Democratic strategist not working for any of the gubernatorial hopefuls.
“Trump has a 29% approval rating in California, is hated here, and any move by Trump to single out one of the Democratic candidates for governor is bound to elevate them in the minds of Democratic voters,” he added.
Swalwell was not accused of any wrongdoing; both the FBI and the bipartisan House Ethics Committee closed their investigations into his ties to Fang, which he cut after intelligence officials informed him they were monitoring her.
But the flap has propelled long-running conservative criticism of Swalwell, 45, who filed and then dropped a lawsuit against the Trump administration for trying to launch a politically motivated mortgage fraud investigation into him. He’s already working to turn the GOP talking point into an asset for his gubernatorial bid, which will require a top-two finish in June in order for him to advance to the general election.
“Donald Trump and Kash Patel are targeting me because we’re winning,” Swalwell posted on X this week, likening Patel’s FBI to that of the late J. Edgar Hoover, known to have used bureau resources to look into political opponents.
Swalwell’s spokesperson declined to make him available for questions about the potential release of FBI files, which his attorneys are seeking to stop with a cease-and-desist letter, with a deadline of Thursday.
Trump’s allies see Swalwell’s bid to boost his candidacy as likely to fail. A person close to the White House said Swalwell was “attempting to hijack the narrative as a made-up scheme to release files from his time as the ‘victim’ of rolling in the sheets with a Chinese spy.”
This person also indicated that the FBI itself might not ultimately release the files: Swalwell “knows damn well that the FBI is simply sharing counter-espionage information within the government, but is still spewing outrage with one goal in mind: make sure that these files never see the light of day.“An FBI spokesperson did not return a request for comment.
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Swalwell challenged the early-stage inquiry into his mortgage in part by citing the Privacy Act, which governs the release of identifying documents within the government and generally prevents their release without a person’s consent.
But the FBI, which his attorneys have already threatened with a Privacy Act suit (while also citing potential First Amendment violations), could get around some of its legal risk by sharing the Fang files with the White House. The Privacy Act doesn’t restrict the White House as tightly as it does other areas of the government.
The bipartisan House Ethics Committee closed its investigation into Swalwell’s conduct in 2023, according to a letter released at the time by his congressional office. Swalwell said he’d cooperated with both the House panel and the FBI’s investigation, though the Fang probe still led House Republicans to remove him from the Intelligence Committee in 2023.
Notably, the situation also blew back on former Attorney General Pam Bondi ahead of her ouster by Trump on Thursday. Some of the president’s frustration with Bondi came from his belief that she may have alerted Swalwell to the administration’s effort to release the Fang investigative files, according to the person close to the White House.
Swalwell, in a statement, denied getting any heads-up.
“We had no heads-up by anyone in the administration. None,” he said. “These stories would be laughable if not so outrageous. An administration that is now at 33% approval is looking to blame anyone but the right people — themselves.”
Room for Disagreement
Trump’s network is clearly unmoved by Swalwell’s legal threats, suggesting the administration is confident it would prevail if he files suit.
“His bullsh*t isn’t outrage, it’s laying the groundwork for a future Privacy Act lawsuit to scare the government from reviewing what he already knows,” the person said.
And while threatened scrutiny from the FBI is a potent form of earned media in politics, Swalwell’s main Democratic opponent in the gubernatorial primary, Tom Steyer, has a more powerful weapon: ample self-funding.
Steyer, who’s polling ahead of Swalwell in some surveys, has reportedly padded his campaign coffers with more than $38 million of his own cash.
Nicholas’s view
There’s some precedent for the GOP inadvertently helping boost a California Democrat by going after him. Then-Rep. Adam Schiff found himself in the hot seat three years ago when House Republicans voted to censure him for his handling of Trump investigations during his first term.
But the entire episode proved a huge fundraising boon to Schiff, who pulled away from his rivals in the Senate primary and easily won the general election.
Still, getting targeted by the Trump administration is a far different experience from a House censure vote. Although voters might care less about old political scandals in the Trump 2.0 era, releasing the Fang files also risks handing Swalwell’s rivals — including the deep-pocketed Steyer — more ammunition in the closing months of the primary.
Notable
- “We know there’s this risk ahead — a 15 percent chance of calamity,” Democratic strategist Paul Mitchell told Politico of the risk that Democrats would get locked out of the top two in the gubernatorial primary.
Shelby Talcott contributed to this report.