The House voted along party lines to keep Eric Swalwell on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence despite histrionics from Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy that Swalwell should be removed because he was once in a relationship with a woman who was discovered to be a Chinese government agent, the Washington Post reports.

In an obvious attempt at revenge for removing fellow Party member Majorie Taylor Greene (Q-GA) from her committee assignments for encourage violence and promoting conspiracy theories, McCarthy averred that Swalwell should be removed from the Intelligence Committee because the Chinese woman could have compromised Swalwell.  McCarthy likely is also acting in retaliation for Swalwell’s vocal advocacy to impeach McCarthy’s political idol, Donald Trump; Swalwell was one of the House impeachment managers during Trump’s unprecedented second impeachment trial.

In a 218 to 200 vote, with three Republicans voting “present,” the House rejected McCarthy’s assertion. 

A woman named Christine Fang, also known as Fang Fang, who targeted California politicians with fundraising and lobbying efforts, and worked with Swalwell as an independent fundraiser during the 2014 election.  Fang also helped place an intern from Swalwell’s district onto his congressional office staff.  After Swalwell was told about Fang’s connections to the Chinese government, Swalwell broke off contact with Fang and cooperated with FBI investigators.

House leaders of both parties were advised of Swalwell’s involvement with Fang in 2015, when he was first seated in the House as a freshman member after winning the 2014 election.  They chose to place him on the Intelligence Committee as a freshman member, a position he has kept since.