Newly-released documents reveal that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials raised concerns over Democrat Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s ties to China after he joined the Democratic presidential ticket last year, Just the News reported.
The documents, obtained by the watchdog group Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, had been previously withheld by the Biden administration, according to Just the News. Scrutiny of Walz’s longstanding ties to the Chinese government and Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-affiliated organizations escalated after he was selected as former Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate.
“China is happy,” one DHS official wrote in a group chat called “NST NFT Bi-Weekly Sync” on Aug. 7, 2024, one day after Walz officially became part of the Democratic campaign.
Republicans have criticized Walz for his close relationship with China, including his roughly 30 visits to the communist nation, some of which were partially funded by the Chinese government.
The Daily Caller News Foundation has reported extensively on Walz’s CCP ties, including details on how the governor, while teaching in Nebraska in the 1990s, welcomed CCP officials into his classroom. Walz also appointed a member of a political faction loyal to the CCP to a state board and attended numerous events organized by members of a nonprofit linked to the Chinese government.
“Wal[z]’s got the Vp. You all have no idea how this feeds into what [the People’s Republic of China] has been doing here with him and local gov,” one unidentified DHS official wrote in the group chat. “It’s seriously a line of the intel. Target someone who is perceived they can get to DC.”
Another DHS employee proposed involving the FBI for its counterintelligence (CI) expertise.
“[W]ith FBI mission in the CI field i believe they need to get included,” the employee wrote. The exact roles of the employees involved in the chat remain unclear.
Walz did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Whistleblowers reportedly alerted the House Oversight Committee to the existence of the messages last year, after the committee launched an investigation into Walz’s connections to the CCP. Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer issued a subpoena to the DHS for the records but later accused the department of stonewalling the request.
“This is every bit as important as the Russiagate disclosures. The Biden gang obviously covered this all up to try to help rig the election,” Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch president, told Just the News.
Even after his failed campaign with Harris, the Minnesota governor has continued to raise eyebrows with his remarks on China.
“Now, who is the voice in the world that can negotiate some type of agreement in this? Who holds the moral authority? Who holds the ability to do that? Because we are not seen as a neutral actor, and we maybe never were,” Walz said in June, questioning whether the U.S. could broker peace in the Middle East due to a perceived lack of neutrality. “Now I ask who that is. I mean, consistently over and over again, we’re going to have to face the reality, it might be the Chinese.”
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