'Useful puppet': Eric Swalwell in the hot seat after traveling to Doha on several Qatar-sponsored trips

By Fox News · Fox News

California gubernatorial hopeful Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., took at least six trips to Doha backed by Qatar-linked sponsors from 2020 through 2024, extending a pattern of foreign-funded travel that previously drew criticism, according to House filings reviewed by Fox News Digital. The disclosures show Swalwell returned to Qatar repeatedly over multiple years, even after he was slammed for taking an $84,000 trip with a few other lawmakers to the Gulf emirate in 2021, sponsored by the U.S.-Qatar Business Council. In addition to that trip, filings from the House of Representatives clerk show Swalwell also went to Doha in 2020, twice in 2022, once in 2023, and once in 2024, with the trips sponsored by either the Embassy of Qatar, or the U.S.-Qatar Business Council. Swalwell faced criticism for his 2021 trip to Doha that surfaced after Business Insider shared a photo of a shirtless Swalwell and now-Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., as well as their spouses, during a camel excursion along the Persian Gulf – not far from where they were reportedly staying at the Four Seasons in Doha. While not illegal, such trips are an "ethical gray area" Business Insider pointed out at the time, which can offer powerful interests a chance to influence lawmakers. Swalwell was on the House Intelligence Committee at the time, and Gallego on the House Armed Services Committee. Business Insider also added that such privately funded trips are different than congressional delegations paid for by the government. UNEARTHED PHOTO OF SWALWELL MEETING WITH TOP CCP OFFICIAL RAISES ALARM BELLS: ‘VERY DISTURBING’ Following backlash over their trip to Qatar in 2021, the U.S.-Qatar Business Council told the New York Post that it did not pay for the camel excursion, only "costs directly associated with travel and the working agenda of the trip." Meanwhile, in February, Fox News Digital found that Swalwell's current gubernatorial campaign continued receiving tens of thousands of dollars in donations from la…