The chairman of the House Oversight Committee said Thursday that Democratic vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz might be a longtime key player in a Chinese influence operation within the U.S.
Rep. James Comer made the allegations in a letter to the FBI renewing his Aug. 16 request for information about the Minnesota governor’s contacts with the Chinese Communist Party.
Mr. Comer said that Mr. Walz’s history with CCP affiliates bears characteristics to the type of China’s influence operations that the FBI previously told the committee it is on the lookout for.
The FBI refused to comment.
The letter outlined some of Mr. Walz’s activities:
• Mr. Walz has visited China roughly 30 times.
• As recently as this year, he met with CCP Consul General Zhao Jian to discuss China-U.S. relations and “sub-national cooperation.”
• While a congressman, he helped secure over $2 million for the Hormel Institute, a Minnesota-based medical research center that worked with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China and the Beijing Genomics Institute, which the Pentagon identified as a Chinese military company.
“The FBI appears to deem these concerning facts unpersuasive to require its cooperation with a congressional investigation and noted that the agency told the Committee that the Bureau’s Foreign Influence Task Force investigates “this kind of CCP activity,” Mr. Comer, Kentucky Republican, wrote in the letter.
He said the committee is concerned that Mr. Walz’s involvement with China “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.”
According to Mr. Comer, the FBI missed the deadline for the original request for information, which included any warnings or information the FBI gave to Mr. Walz about his relations with China.
“The Committee must understand the full extent of Mr. Walz’s ties to the CCP.”
Mr. Walz’s other connections to China include a 1993 trip when he was a high school teacher in Minnesota. He organized the trip for his students and the cost for the trip was paid in part by the Chinese government.
In 2007, as a member of Congress, Mr. Walz served as a fellow at Macau Polytechnic University.
“According to the university’s website, Macau Polytechnic University exists ‘in alignment with China’s Belt and Road Initiative,’ a political warfare program developed by President Xi Jinping to exert China’s influence worldwide,” Mr. Comer wrote.
The Washington Times reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.