The
New York Times has continued its reporting blackout on ties between Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and suspected Chinese Communist regime spy Christine Fang not reporting on those ties for more than two weeks after they came to light.
On December 8, Axios reported that Swalwell had been one of several American politicians that Fang had developed extensive ties to, as part of a multi-year spying operation in the United States between 2011 and 2015. Fang was even a campaign bundler for Swalwell and placed at least one intern in his congressional offices, according to the report. The FBI was reportedly so concerned about Fang who had engaged in romantic relationships with at least two midwestern mayors that they briefed Swalwell about her in 2015, when she suddenly returned to China.
Rohan Sullivan
One of the people pardoned by Donald Trump on his way out of the White House is the man who embroiled Alexander Downer in the Le Carré-ian tale of Russia s interference in the President s 2016 election.
George Papadopoulos, 33, was a low-level adviser to Trump s 2016 campaign. He pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to FBI agents about the timing and significance of his contacts with people who claimed to have ties to top Russian officials.
Tweets from an account purportedly belonging to George Papadopoulos, a one-time adviser to the Donald Trump campaign.
Twitter
More infamously for Australians, Papadopolous met at a London bar in May 2016 with Downer, who had taken the plum diplomatic posting of High Commissioner after retiring as the country s longest-serving foreign minister.