WASHINGTON, DC - In a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray last week, Rep. James Comer (R-KY), Chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, advised Wray that the committee was investigating Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s connections to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Walz is a vice-presidential candidate alongside Kamala Harris’s bid for president.
The probe into Walz is connected to the Committee’s investigation of the CCP’s political warfare operations, which includes attempts to “co-opt and influence important figures in elite political circles to the benefit of the communist People’s Republic of China (PRC).”
Comer informed Wray that the “Committee requested information about the CCP-affiliated entities and officials with which Mr. Timothy Walz was engaged, as well as any warnings or information the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI or the Bureau) has provided to Mr. Walz or his office about CCP influence operations.”
Comer called the FBI to task for not producing requested documents and information by the requested deadline, calling the “FBI’s silence regarding Mr. Walz’s documented relations with CCP affiliates…inexcusable.”
The chairman noted that the FBI had briefed the Committee on July 17, 2024, about CCP influence operations. “In part based on that briefing,” Comer wrote, it is clear to the Committee that Mr. Walz’s history with CCP-affiliates bears characteristics of such influence operation, and the FBI must produce any information it has regarding this concerning development.”
Republicans have been increasingly scrutinizing Walz’s connection to China after he was chosen as Harris’s running mate. The Hill reported that Walz spent one year teaching high school in China before moving to the country in 1989.
Moreover, The New York Times reports that Walz visited China 30 times and served as a fellow at China’s Macau Polytechnic University in 2007.
Walz’s involvement with China is another example of Chinese influence operations of elected officials. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) had a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy around 2014. Earlier this month, a former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was accused of acting as an agent of the Chinese communist government.
Linda Sun, 41, was indicted for violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), visa fraud, bringing in aliens, and money laundering conspiracy,” according to a Department of Justice release.
In his letter to Wray, Comer outlined a series of concerns regarding Walz’s ties to China, calling them “myriad and substantial.” He highlighted a trip to China for his Alliance High School students that the Chinese government paid for in part, which Walz himself led.
As a fellow at Macau University, Walz was aligned with an institution that “exists ‘in alignment with China’s Belt and Road Initiative,’” according to the university’s website. That program is “a political warfare program developed by [Chinese] President Xi Jinping to exert China’s influence worldwide.” Walz’s interaction with the CCP continued up until this year when Walz “met with CCP Consul General Zhao Jian to discuss ‘China-US relations and sub-national cooperation.’”
Comer slammed the FBI’s lack of cooperation, writing that the agency “appears to deem these concerning facts unpersuasive to require its cooperation with a congressional investigation.”
Comer outlined several other concerning facts regarding Walz’s ties to the PRC. He wrote that “Mr. Walz, while in Congress, ‘helped secure over $2 million’ and ‘pushed for a $5 million federal earmark’ for the Hormel Institute, which is a ‘Minnesota-based medical research center with a history of working with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.’” Comer then reminded Wray of the Wuhan Institute’s implication in the origin of COVID-19.
“The Hormel Institute has also worked with the Beijing Genomics Institute, ‘a group labeled by the Pentagon as a ‘Chinese military company.’” Comer also alleged that the former executive director of the Hormel Institute, Dr. Zigang Dong, “abruptly stepped down from his post” in 2019, “(a)round the same time it was revealed (he) was involved in an FBI probe…investigating his ‘possible failure to report foreign backing when applying for grants.’” Comer noted that Dong is “a longtime…donor to Mr. Walz’s political career,” according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
“The FBI told the Committee that the Bureau’s Foreign Influence Task Force investigates this type of CCP activity,” Comer wrote. “The Committee is concerned that Mr. Walz’s involvement with Chinese entities and officials may have allowed the CCP to influence his decision-making as a congressman and governor and potentially would allow the CCP to influence the White House should Mr. Walz be elected vice president,” Comer repeated the Committee’s request for documents as requested in the August 16, 2024 letter.
Comer gave Wray until September 19, 2024 to provide the requested documents.
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