The Daily Herold: 8/17/26 - The Rusty Thumbs Files and Swalwell's Chinese Spy Scandal
Jon Herold digs deep into newly declassified FBI files on suspected Chinese operative Christine Fang, nicknamed "Rusty Thumbs" by investigators, and her years long relationship with Congressman Eric Swalwell, walking through the FBI's failed attempt to recruit her as a source before pivoting to a campaign corruption investigation that ultimately closed without charges. He builds out a detailed theory around a still classified National Security Presidential Memorandum he believes triggered the document release, connecting it to his ongoing coverage of the weaponized intelligence community…
The skinny
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