Axios’ Jonathan Swan Defends Colleague After Swalwell Questions Timing of China Report: ‘Give Me a Break’

Axios’ Jonathan Swan called out Congressman Eric Swalwell after the California Democrat raised questions about the timing of Axios’ reporting on a suspected Chinese spy that targeted Swalwell and others.

The report from Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian — who covers China for Axios — details how this suspected spy developed “extensive ties” to several politicians across the country and even apparently entered into “romantic or sexual relationships with at least two Midwestern mayors” before fleeing in 2015.

According to Axios, Swalwell received a defensive briefing in 2015 after investigators were “alarmed” by what was going on, and he “immediately cut off all ties to Fang.”

Swalwell apparently did not respond to Axios’ request for comment, but told Politico he thinks the report’s release may have something to do with the fact that he’s a prominent critic of President Donald Trump.

He said, “I’ve been a critic of the president. I’ve spoken out against him. I was on both committees that worked to impeach him. The timing feels like that should be looked at… What it appears though that this person — as the story reports — was unsuccessful in whatever they were trying to do. But if intelligence officials are trying to weaponize someone’s cooperation, they are essentially seeking to do what this person was not able to do, which is to try and discredit someone.”

On Fox News’ Special Report, Swan responded to Swalwell and defended his colleague:

“It would be inappropriate for me to talk about my colleague’s sourcing, but just use your common sense. Even Swalwell acknowledges that he first found out Axios was on this in 2019… She’s been working on this for more than a year. Anyone who has any passing understanding of how Trumpworld works, do we really think that they put out some opposition research and then patiently wait a year beyond an election for the very well-respected China correspondent to report it out in a nuanced fashion? Give me a break. It’s completely absurd.”

He went on to say the report is really important because it “shows how the Chinese communist party operates inside this country” and how they “identify young, in some cases soft targets, people who don’t have a lot of staff around them, who don’t have experience, who don’t actually understand the tactics of the Chinese communist party, and then they follow them up.”

You can watch above, via

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