Home Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) subpoenaed Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday for data referring to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vp, and a obscure alleged connection to the Chinese language Communist Get together.
Comer mentioned in a letter accompanying the subpoena — issued on the day earlier than the vice presidential debate between Walz and Republican Sen. JD Vance (Ohio) — that his committee obtained whistleblower disclosures about “serious concern among Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel regarding a longstanding connection between” Walz and China.
Particularly, Comer pointed to a nonclassified chat that DHS workers used on Microsoft Groups titled “NST NFT Bi-Weekly Sync” that he mentioned accommodates related data, along with additional categorised and unclassified paperwork within the management of DHS. The acronym stands for “Nation State Threat — National Functional Team,” in accordance with the committee.
Comer didn’t go into element about what sort of issues had been raised about Walz’s alleged connection to China however mentioned the knowledge got here via a whistleblower.
Walz, former educator, spent a 12 months instructing in China in 1989, and later led area journeys to the nation — visiting China dozens of instances. That journey has been underneath scrutiny from Home Republicans since he ascended to the presidential ticket over the summer season.
The subpoena gave a deadline of Oct. 7 to supply the communication within the Microsoft Groups group chat referring to Walz from July 1, 2024 to current, in addition to any intelligence data experiences or regional intelligence notes since Nov. 2023 to current referring to Walz, his employees, or his gubernatorial workplace.
It’s uncommon for committees to concern a requirement for paperwork with out first sending a letter requesting the knowledge be offered voluntarily.
The subpoena is simply the most recent motion from Comer and Home Republicans taking larger purpose at Walz and Vice President Kamala Harris within the wake of President Biden dropping out of the presidential race and Harris changing into the social gathering’s nominee.
The Home Schooling Committee subpoenaed Walz himself earlier this month in relation to a Minnesota nonprofit that had been charged for fraudulently utilizing federal COVID-19 funds.
Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) beforehand wrote to Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin questioning whether or not Walz complied with international journey reporting necessities for his safety clearance as he traveled to China whereas serving within the Nationwide Guard.
And Comer beforehand sought data from the FBI about whether or not it has ever supplied any defensive briefings to Walz, a apply by which the company informs politicians and different figures whether or not they could be a goal of Chinese language intelligence or affect efforts. Comer additionally requested the FBI to show over data on greater than a dozen Chinese language entities, together with some it’s unclear Walz had any contact with.
Comer’s Monday letter, although, aimed to sign that the transfer to subpoena DHS had motivations aside from politics.
“The Committee’s investigation of the CCP—begun long before Governor Walz was elevated to be the vice-presidential candidate for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris—seeks to understand the extent of the CCP’s infiltration and influence campaign and to identify legislative reforms to combat CCP political warfare targeting prominent Americans for elite capture,” Comer mentioned within the letter to Mayorkas.
“In particular, if a state governor and major political party’s nominee for Vice President of the United States has been a witting or unwitting participant in the CCP’s efforts to weaken our nation, this 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 added.
DHS and the Harris-Walz marketing campaign didn’t instantly present touch upon the subpoena.
Rebecca Beitsch contributed.
