Senator Ted Cruz, the Republican Senator from Texas, responded to an offer of a bet by Democrat Eric Swalwell on the NFL playoff game between the Dallas Cowboys and the San Fransisco 49ers.
Fox News reports that Swalwell started the conversation by tweeting:.
If the @dallascowboys beat the @49ers I wont tweet for the rest of January. If the @49ers win you cant tweet for rest of January. Deal? how Texan are you, Ted?
Cruz responded with a tweet: How about we bet a Chinese dinner instead?
This hit referenced a controversy that Eric Swalwell was wrapped up in just a few years ago with a Chinese national named Fang Fang or Christine Fang. At the time, intelligence officials spoke with Axios about how Fang Fang or Christine Fang used campaign fundraising, networking, rallies, and romantic relationships to gain influence with at least two Midwestern mayors. There were reports that Fang also participated in fundraising campaigns for Swalwell in 2014 for his re-election bid. Fox News noted no illegal contributions or evidence that Fang donated to the Swalwell campaign.
Axios reports that officials were so worried about Fangs actions that they alerted Swalwell about their concerns and gave him a defensive briefing regarding what he could do to potentially prevent corruption within his campaign as they were that concerned about the actions that Fang might take to create mayhem in the Swalwell campaign and beyond. Fang left the United States in mid-2015.
Swalwells office told Axios the following in 2020:
Rep. Swalwell, long ago, provided information about this person whom he met more than eight years ago, and whom he hasnt seen in nearly six years to the FBI.
The statement also read:
To protect information that might be classified, he will not participate in your story.
The 49ers and Cowboys are set to compete with each other in the Divisional round of the playoffs on Sunday. The matchup pits the hometown team of Swalwell against the hometown team of Cruz. It is often the case that members of Congress will make these kinds of public bets when the teams representing their local areas are playing against each other. It is not often the case that one member of Congress hits another with such a damaging slapdown. This is why the bet was suggested in the first place.
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