WASHINGTON — Trump administration officials have ordered FBI agents to gather documents about a decade-old investigation into a Democratic member of Congress and his ties to a suspected Chinese spy, according to people familiar with the matter.

The effort has alarmed law enforcement officials who said they feared the material could be released publicly to smear the lawmaker, Rep. Eric Swalwell, a prominent critic of President Donald Trump who is now running for governor of California.

The investigation dates from more than a decade ago, when FBI counterintelligence agents looked into a Chinese woman, Christine Fang, or Fang Fang, who assisted Swalwell with fundraising. The FBI concluded the investigation, and the Justice Department did not bring any criminal charges.

Scores of FBI Agents Investigating Swalwell

In recent days, scores of FBI agents and other personnel in California were instructed to gather the documents on Swalwell and Fang, the people said. Supervisors advised the agents to lightly redact the records to obscure some sensitive information and told them the files would be shared with senior administration officials in Washington.

The order from FBI leadership has alarmed some career investigators, partly because the files are extensive and contain a significant amount of classified material and private information, the people said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss orders intended to remain secret.

A Justice Department spokesperson and the White House referred questions to the FBI. A bureau spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Some law enforcement personnel have expressed concern at what would remain unredacted and whether senior officials would misuse the material to score political points, perhaps by publicly releasing it, the people said. They added that the agency was expending significant resources on what appears to be a political errand.

House Concluded Its Probe in 2023

Fang left the United States for China in 2015. Swalwell has denied wrongdoing, and law enforcement officials have not presented any evidence that he knew of anything amiss about Fang.

In 2023, the House Ethics Committee ended a two-year investigation into the relationship between Swalwell and Fang without taking any further action. But Trump and his supporters have accused the lawmaker of being a pawn of Chinese intelligence operatives.

“We now know the outrageous ends the White House will go to target political opponents,” Swalwell said in a statement Saturday. “The reason Trump is so desperately trying to stop me is not because I’m running for governor of California, but because now I’m the favorite.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Edward Wong and Devlin Barrett/Gabriela Bhaskar

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