Swalwell and the Armenian lobby: from backing to silence Article in the American press

An article by columnist Cal Thomas, published in the American newspaper Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, examines the growing crisis of trust among Americans toward politicians. A striking example cited in the piece is the case of former Congressman Eric Swalwell, who has been known for his support of Armenian interests. The article is presented below for readers of Caliber.Az:

“The woman in the gro­cery store check­out line had an accent. While we waited for our items to be rung up, I asked her where she was from.

‘Argen­tina,’ she said.

‘Is the infla­tion rate in Argen­tina under 100 per­cent yet?’ I asked.

She smiled, ‘That’s what the politi­cians say, but I never trust a politi­cian.’

I laughed. What a wise woman, I thought. That sen­ti­ment is get­ting around.

I imme­di­ately thought of the Amer­ican politi­cians who defen­ded former rep­res­ent­at­ive and former can­did­ate for Cali­for­nia gov­ernor Eric Swal­well (D-Calif.).

Eric Swal­well

Some back­ground for those with short memor­ies: In 2020, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and then Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) were given a clas­si­fied brief­ing by the FBI after which McCarthy said Swal­well should not be on the House Intel­li­gence Com­mit­tee because of his ties to an alleged Chinese spy. Pelosi con­tin­ued to sup­port Swal­well, and in 2021 he was appoin­ted to the Intel­li­gence Com­mit­tee. Invest­ig­at­ors ulti­mately did not find evid­ence that Swal­well par­ti­cip­ated in a quid-pro-quo scheme or viol­ated fed­eral cor­rup­tion laws. He was removed as a sub­ject of the invest­ig­a­tion.

Kevin McCarthy

In 2023, after becom­ing speaker, McCarthy accused Swal­well of keep­ing com­pany with Christine Fang, a woman McCarthy said was a Chinese spy. Swal­well even­tu­ally resigned from Con­gress after addi­tional inform­a­tion about his con­tact with Fang was revealed. He also with­drew from the Cali­for­nia gov­ernor’s race into which he had inser­ted him­self.

What adds to the dis­trust of politi­cians (if more reas­ons are needed) is the num­ber of House Demo­crats who con­tin­ued to sup­port Swal­well after the alleg­a­tions of his mis­deeds kept pil­ing up. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said of McCarthy’s alleg­a­tion that Swal­well had a Chinese spy on his staff: ‘That is absurd. And I think Mr. McCarthy ought to be ashamed . . . for rais­ing these spuri­ous ques­tions.’

Steny Hoyer

Then-House Minor­ity Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) called the effort to remove Swal­well from the Intel­li­gence Com­mit­tee a ‘frivol­ous, polit­ical exer­cise’ inten­ded to ‘attack the repu­ta­tion of an out­stand­ing Mem­ber of Con­gress.’ Many other Demo­crats, includ­ing then Rep­res­ent­at­ive/now Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), also defen­ded Swal­well.

Adam Schiff

FBI records per­tain­ing to Swal­well were sub­sequently declas­si­fied. Accord­ing to report­ing by Foxnews.com, they showed agents ‘had launched a full invest­ig­a­tion tied to Fang, examin­ing pos­sible bribery, for­eign cam­paign con­tri­bu­tions (which are illegal), and efforts at one point to trade access to Swal­well and con­gres­sional intern­ships for polit­ical dona­tions.’

Last Sat­urday night at San Fran­cisco Inter­na­tional Air­port, FBI agents seized Swal­well’s elec­tronic devices. The fol­low­ing day, Swal­well’s Wash­ing­ton, D.C., home was searched as part of an invest­ig­a­tion into alleged sexual mis­con­duct.

The records released by the White House Gov­ern­ment Trans­par­ency Task Force reveal two FBI inter­views with Swal­well. They also expose a broader invest­ig­a­tion that is examin­ing Fang’s involve­ment with illi­cit cam­paign con­tri­bu­tions and accus­a­tions involving interns. The records reveal, Fox News reports, how the FBI saw Fang as a sig­ni­fic­ant coun­ter­in­tel­li­gence con­cern, sus­pect­ing ties to China’s Min­istry of State and at one point attempt­ing to recruit her as an FBI con­fid­en­tial source.

Have we heard a peep from those top Demo­crats who voci­fer­ously defen­ded Swal­well while accus­ing McCarthy of 'shame­ful' beha­vior (Adam Schiff)? Not one.

This is just one of the reas­ons so many people are soured on Con­gress and don’t bother to vote. It is why the Argen­tine lady was right (and so are Amer­ic­ans) not to place their faith in politi­cians,” Cal Thomas wrote.

Jerrold Nadler

Jerrold Nadler has a long history of engagement with the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), consistently supporting initiatives backed by the Armenian-American community.

Steny Hoyer is a Democratic congressman from Maryland who has actively worked with the ANCA throughout his political career.

Former Congressman Eric Swalwell, despite the allegations against him, enjoyed the support of pro-Armenian Nancy Pelosi for many years and received high ratings from the ANCA for his pro-Armenian legislative activities. California Senator Adam Schiff has also maintained close ties with the committee.