One California Congressman hasn’t had the easiest time in recent months.
He was removed from the House Committee on Intelligence over security concerns.
And now Eric Swalwell was just taken apart by Marjorie Taylor Greene in a Congressional hearing.
During a Homeland Security Committee hearing, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene had a zinger of a report to Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) when she mentioned allegations of his past relationship with a Chinese spy.
It all started when Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified before the Homeland Security Committee to defend the Biden administration’s budget proposal.
A lecture on appropriate behavior from Eric Swalwell is rich indeed
While questioning Mayorkas, Swalwell slammed Greene for selling merchandise calling to “Defund the FBI” and called on lawmakers to “elevate our rhetoric.”
That gave Greene her opening.
The backstory here is that Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) removed Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee for his alleged relationship with Christine Fang.
Fang is a suspected Chinese spy also known as Fang Fang, who allegedly cultivated connections with Swalwell and other California politicians from 2011 to 2015 at the direction of China’s Ministry of State Security.
Moving in for the kill, Greene then brought up Swalwell’s former ties to the suspected Chinese spy.
Greene said, “That was quite entertaining from someone that had a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy, and everyone knows it. But thanks for entertaining!”
MTG just dropped a bomb on Eric Swalwell and halted an entire hearing in its tracks pic.twitter.com/g0PeX7hUjQ
— Alec Sears (@alec_sears) April 19, 2023
Democrats cried foul.
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) then interrupted her, demanding that the committee remove Greene’s comment from the record.
After giving Greene a chance to retract her comments and her saying, “No, I will not,” Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) ruled that the comments would not be stricken from the record.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) then chimed in to appeal the ruling, saying he was “appalled” and “embarrassed” by Greene’s words.
The motion was then tabled, and Greene continued her questioning of Mayorkas.
Greene then went on to call Mayorkas a “liar,” at which point Democrats successfully got those words stricken from the record for violating rules against impugning a person’s character.
She was then barred from speaking the rest of the hearing.
Swalwell’s ties to Fang were first reported in 2020.
That prompted House Republicans to draft a resolution to remove Swalwell from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, but the resolution was tabled by the Democrats.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy later blocked Swalwell from a spot on the committee after Republicans regained power in January.
Stay tuned to Blue State Blues for any updates to this ongoing story.
