Just hours before tonight’s televised Vice Presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz, a new scandal has erupted in the Walz camp linking the candidate to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
According to the New York Post, the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the Department of Homeland Security on yestserday following whistleblower allegations about an internal employee group chat discussing “serious concerns” about Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s China ties — some of which have been documented in classified files.
Chairman James Comer (R-KY) announced the subpoena yesterday. The top House lawmaker cited whistleblower disclosures causing concern.
“The Committee has learned of a non-classified, Microsoft Teams group chat among DHS employees — titled ‘NST NFT Bi-Weekly Sync’ — that contains information about Governor Walz that is relevant to the Committee’s investigation,” he said in a cover letter.
The group chat initials stand for “Nation State Threat — National Functional Team,” according to an Oversight spokesman.
House Oversight panel issues subpoena after whistleblower said DHS employees discussed ‘serious concerns’ about Tim Walz’s China ties in internal group chat https://t.co/JscyEkD1HI pic.twitter.com/dKXZzZ8Ouz
— New York Post (@nypost) September 30, 2024
Comer added that his committee “has also learned that further relevant information regarding Governor Walz has been memorialized in both classified and unclassified documents in the control of” the Homeland Security Department (DHS).
According to the New York Post, the investigation began targeting Walz’s “cozy” relationship with China by making a records request of the FBI just before the Minnesota governor and former US House lawmaker became the Democratic vice presidential nominee.
However, the FBI never responded to the request.
Comer declared his panel would be investigating Walz over his “extensive” ties to entities linked to the CCP, expanding an inquiry already looking at the Biden administration and China’s efforts to meddle in the affairs of the United States.
Teddy Tschann, a spokesperson for Walz, said in a statement reported by The Washington Post that his boss and Harris would “ensure we win the competition with China, and will always stand up for our values and interests in the face of China’s threats.”
He also claimed “Republicans are twisting basic facts and desperately lying to distract from the Trump-Vance agenda: praising dictators, and sending American jobs to China,” referring to former President Donald Trump, the GOP’s presidential nominee.
The subpoena comes as officials at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence warned in a briefing earlier this month that China’s election interference efforts have been focused on state and local government officials.
Earlier this year, the Oversight Committee began investigating the federal government’s response to broadening CCP influence to “weaken and corrupt” the US.
Comer’s subpoena demands records from the Microsoft Teams group chat “NST NFT Bi-Weekly Sync” from July 1, 2024, to present, and all Intelligence Information Reports and Regional Intelligence Notes from November 2023 to present related to Walz.
A deadline of October 7, roughly one month before the November election, for the DHS to provide the documents was listed in the subpoena.
If a governor or VP pick is compromised by the CCP, it would “strongly suggest that there are alarming weaknesses in the federal government’s effort to defend the United States from the CCP’s political warfare that must be urgently addressed,” Comer wrote.
Walz was also subpoenaed earlier this month into the fraudulent use of COVID relief funds.