‘That’s RACIST!’ Elaine Chao’s Defenders Turn To Leftist Tactics After Bombshell Report On CCP Ties

Former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s defenders responded to a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation into her reported ties to Chinese Communist Party-linked organizations by accusing the report of racism.

Chao spokesman Patrick O’Connor called the investigation “racist,” while former National Security Council China Director Dennis Wilder described it as a “racist attack” on Chao. Their accusations drew pushback from critics who argued questions about Chao’s reported affiliations concern national security and disclosure, not her ethnicity.

“Let’s call this what it is — another racist attack on one of America’s finest public servants. Absolutely shameful,” Wilder wrote in response to the DCNF investigation.

Wilder previously served as the National Security Council’s China director and held CIA roles focused on East Asia.

O’Connor similarly accused the DCNF of racism while denying Chao ever held positions with a foreign government.

“She has never held a position with a foreign government or acted on behalf of one. We are not aware she has met with representatives from UFWD entities,” O’Connor told the DCNF. “Such a suggestion disregards her nearly five decades of faithful service to the United States and is both unfounded and deeply insulting, hurtful and racist.”

The DCNF asked O’Connor why Chao believed investigating her reported Chinese government ties was racist.

“No one seems to care when most American business or political leaders hold meetings in China, so it’s suspicious when the Daily Caller makes insinuations about a former two-time cabinet secretary of Asian descent, especially based on photos, some of which are decades old,” O’Connor said. “The secretary is a proud American who has devoted most of her professional life to serving the American people. To question her patriotism is a double standard, at best — racist, at worst.”

Michael Lucci, founder and CEO of State Armor, pushed back against Wilder’s accusation and raised questions about Wilder’s own work on U.S.-China relations.

“One of Secretary Chao’s quickest defenders was Dennis Wilder, who previously was the National Security Council’s China Director and held CIA roles overseeing the East Asia portfolio,” Lucci told the DCNF. “Yet Wilder himself owes the American public broad disclosures about who is funding his work, because his Georgetown US-China Dialogue program is funded by the CP Group, a Thai conglomerate whose executives are tied to Chinese intelligence through United Front organizations.”

Georgetown announced a $10 million gift from CP Group in 2016 to create its Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues.

“In fact, CP Group’s Yang Xiaoping, who is quoted in the Georgetown funding announcement, is identified by the House CCP Select Committee as a united front operative,” Lucci told the DCNF.

Lucci also pointed to an op-ed Wilder published in China Daily in May.

“Instead of mirroring CCP talking points by calling America’s best reporters racists, you should reflect on your own substantive issues such as publishing editorials in CCP propaganda outlets that build CCP narratives,” Lucci wrote.

The racism accusations followed a Tuesday DCNF investigation based on Chinese government and state media records identifying Chao as receiving at least four Chinese government positions since 2008, including three involving arms of the CCP’s United Front Work Department.

Chao did not disclose any of the reported positions during her January 2017 Senate confirmation process for Transportation secretary, which required her to list positions held during the preceding ten years.

Chinese records described Chao as having been “hired,” having “accepted an appointment letter” or “holding” various titles, according to DCNF translations. One United Front-linked organization identified Chao as an adviser and committee member between 2012 and 2017, while another identified Chao and her father as honorary chairmen and later advisers. Chinese records also identified Chao as an international adviser to the Wuhan municipal government in 2009.

O’Connor denied Chao held any of the positions. The original investigation reported that Chao’s father said during a May 2010 Chinese-language interview, conducted with Chao beside him, that both he and his daughter were Wuhan government advisers.