Washington, D.C. – Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi to ask the removal of Eric Swalwell from his position on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) for his relationship with a Chinese intelligence official.
“Members of HPSCI are entrusted with our nation’s most sensitive information. There can be no question of loyalty to the United States. Congressman Swalwell’s reported interactions with a Chinese intelligence official, and subsequent withholding of these interactions from HPSCI, poses a serious and immediate national security threat,” Burgess wrote in the letter.
“Thus far, Congressman Swalwell has either refused to comment on this information or claimed he was a victim of a foreign intelligence operation…. Members of Congress, and other officials with access to sensitive information, are constantly targeted by hostile foreign states, most notably China and Russia. I urge you to also consider providing counter elicitation training for Members of Congress to recognize and report these threats.
“At the very least, Congressman Swalwell should immediately be removed from his position on HPSCI and provide an explanation for his past interactions with a known Chinese intelligence official.”
