‘Red-Handed’: 23 Former U.S. Senators and Congressmen Who Lobby for Chinese Military or Chinese Intelligence-Linked Companies

Breitbart News senior contributor and Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President Peter Schweizer’s latest investigative exposé, Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win, reveals how 23 former U.S. senators and congressman have lobbied for Chinese military or intelligence-linked companies after leaving office.

Many lawmakers cash in after leaving office by becoming lobbyists for corporations and other special interests. But one would hope that they would not become advocates for America’s primary economic and political adversary — communist China — by lobbying for outcomes that run counter to the United States’ long-term interests.

However, Schweizer’s book reveals that many former congressional leaders, committee chairman, and rank-and-file members are lobbying for Chinese intelligence and military-linked companies.

The following 23 former members of Congress — the majority of whom are Republicans — have lobbied for Chinese military or intelligence-linked companies.

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH)

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) on September 24, 2015.

Boehner’s advocacy for China began right as he became Speaker of the House and Republicans gained a historic majority.

In 2011, Congress was in the midst of passing a currency manipulation bill, the Currency Exchange Oversight Reform Act, to hold China accountable for keeping its currency artificially low, thus making it easier to boost its exports.

China subsequently hired Squire Patton Boggs (SPB), one of D.C.’s most influential law firms, for $35,000 per month to block the bill.

SPB registered as a foreign agent of the Chinese embassy in Washington, DC, after decades of close ties to the Chinese government.

The Chinese currency manipulation bill sailed through the Senate with a 63-35 vote, featuring strong bipartisan support.

However, Boehner would not allow the bill to come to the House floor for a vote even though half of the House Republican Conference and an “overwhelming” number of Democrats supported the bill.

“It’s a pretty dangerous thing to be moving legislation through the U.S. Congress forcing someone to deal with the value of a currency,” Boehner said.

He even argued that the bill would lead to a trade war.

Schweizer said it “should be no surprise” that when Boehner retired from public office in 2015, he joined SPB as a “strategic adviser” to American and foreign clients.

SPB advised and helped Beijing navigate “issues that will threaten their interests,” according to Schweizer. This includes guidances on the defense appropriations process, the 2020 general elections, and American policy on Hong Kong, Taiwan, Xinjiang, human rights, immigration, trade, and sanctions legislation.

Boehner’s firm has also advised for Chinese government-linked corporations such as ChemChina, China Railway Stock Corporation, Huawei, and Wanhua Chemical Group.

Chinese state-owned media often quotes SPB attorneys, who are often critical of trade and technology restrictions on Chinese firms working in the United States.

SPB also has strong ties to the highest echelons of the Chinese government; Nick Chan, a senior partner for SPB in China, is also a member of the ruling National People’s Congress (NPC).

“The NPC is the highest organ of state power in People’s Republic of China,” SPB explained recently.

Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-AR), Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), and Rep. Albert Wynn (D-MD)

From right to left: Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-AR), Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), and Rep. Albert Wynn (D-MD). (United States Congress)

Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-AR), a former member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, lobbies for Alibaba, the Chinese technology giant. Alibaba paid his firm, Greenberg Traurig, $200,000 in 2020. Greenberg Traurig also hired former Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) and Albert Wynn (D-MD).

Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA)

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) at a hearing on Capitol Hill on September 26, 2018. 

Tencent is another massive Chinese technology company and the creator of WeChat, the popular Chinese messaging app with over 1.2 billion active monthly users.

The Chinese tech firm also develops technologies with military applications and is closely “fused” with China’s Ministry of Public Security and the People’s Liberation Army.

Tencent hired former House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Royce to lobby the federal government. Tencent paid his firm $330,000 in 2020.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS), Sen. John Breaux (D-LA), Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA), and Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN)

From left to right: Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS), Sen. John Breaux (D-LA), Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA), and Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN). 

ByteDance operates Tik Tok, the social media phenomenon that was has been widely criticized for its privacy, censorship practices, as well as its close ties to the Chinese government.

Schweizer has noted that former employees have complained that its content moderation practices are strongly “influenced by Beijing.”

ByteDance hired former Sens. Lott and Breaux.

Lott served as a former Senate majority leader and minority leader.

Breaux once remarked that his vote in the Senate was not for sale, but it is “available for rent.”

ByteDance also hired Denham and Gordon, whose firm received $160,000 from the company in 2020.

Sen. Norman Coleman (R-MN), Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Rep. Jon Christensen (R-NE), and Rep. Connie Mack IV (R-FL)

Clockwise from top left: Sen. Norman Coleman (R-MN), Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Rep. Jon Christensen (R-NE), and Rep. Connie Mack IV (R-FL). (United States Congress)

These lawmakers lobby for ZTE Corporation, a military-linked Chinese telecommunications firm. Coleman’s firm alone received $2.94 million in 2019 for representing the company.

Rep. Don Bonker (D-WA), Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), and Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE)

From left to right: Rep. Don Bonker (D-WA), Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), and Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE). (United States Congress)

Huawei, another Chinese telecom firm with ties to the Chinese military, hired former Rep. Don Bonker (D-WA) and Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL).

Stearns and Bonker, despite being on the opposite sides of the political spectrum, both work at the lobbying firm APCO Worldwide. They also work together on a contract lobbying for the People’s Liberation Army-affiliated company COSCO.

Former Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) also signed up for Huawei in 2021.

The FCC has declared Huawei and ZTE telecom hardware a “national security” threat.

Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA)

Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) speaking at an even in Atlanta, GA, on January 27, 2014. 

Kingston served in the House from 1993 to 2015 and even served as the vice chairman of the House Republican Conference from 2002 to 2006. In Congress, he served as a leading member of the House Appropriations Committee, chairman of the Agriculture, Labor/Health and Human Services/Education, and Legislative Branch subcommittees. The Georgia Republican also was a long-time member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

Despite his accolades as a “guardian of small business,” Kingston has lobbied for ChemChina, the Chinese state-owned chemical company.

From left to right: Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), Rep. Toby Moffett (D-CT), and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA). (United States Congress)

Vitter and Moffett received $70,000 per month from Hikvision, a Chinese surveillance company largely owned by a government-controlled conglomerate known as the China Electronics Group. The Chinese government uses Hikvision’s surveillance cameras to monitor Uyghurs in the Chinese Communist Party’s prison camps.

Vitter voted against the Currency Exchange Oversight Reform Act.

Boucher’s firm received $1.75 million in 2019 for lobbying on behalf of Hikvision.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA)

Ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) at a hearing on Capitol Hill on May 26, 2016. 

Boxer, who represented California as a Democrat from 1993 to 2017 and was a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, later signed on to advise Hikvision and registered as a foreign agent with the Department of Justice.

She claimed that she merely wanted to help create American jobs by providing advice to the Chinese surveillance company.

“When I am asked to provide strategic advise to help a company operate in a more responsible and humane manner consistent with U.S. law in spirit and letter, it is an opportunity to make things better while helping protect and create American jobs,” she said in relation to her lobbying for Hikvision.

Boxer later stopped lobbying for the company after facing public outcry.

Perhaps ironically, Boxer voted in favor of the 2011 Currency Exchange Oversight Reform Act that Boehner blocked.

Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA)

Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on May 17, 2013.

Boustany, who served 12 years in Congress and was a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, became the co-chair of the U.S.-China working group, a bipartisan caucus for members of Congress interested in issues related to China.

When leaving office in 2016, Boustany tried to become a trade representative for the Donald Trump administration. When he failed to get that job, he joined Capitol Counsel, a Washington, DC, lobbying firm.

Capitol Counsel registered with the Department of Justice as a foreign agent to represent the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF). As part of this contract with CUSEF, Capitol Counsel provided “political intelligence gathering” and “substantive advice on China-related legislation,” including arranging meetings on Capitol Hill.

Boustany at the same time became a spokesman for an organization called Tariffs Hurts the Heartland, which argued that the Trump administration’s proposed tariffs against China’s abusive trade practices would actually hurt working-class Americans.

Capitol Counsel was also hired to lobby for an entity called the U.S.-China Transpacific Foundation (UCTPF). As Schweizer notes, the UCTPF, according to its filings with the Justice Department, is funded by the Chinese government. The organization’s ostensible purpose is to sponsor trips for politicians and their staff to visit mainland China.

Sen. William Cohen (R-ME)

Secretary of Defense William Cohen speaks at a briefing at the Pentagon on June 3, 1999. 

After Cohen served in the Senate, he became the secretary of Defense during the Bill Clinton administration.

He established the Cohen Group in 2001 after leaving the Department of Defense (DOD). The Cohen Group has touted its deep ties to the Chinese government, including Cohen’s first visit to China as a congressman in 1978 when he met Chinese Communist Leader Deng Xiaoping.

“[Cohen] has been a constant presence in the U.S.-China relationship, including commercial development and security cooperation,” according to the Cohen Group’s website.

The Cohen Group also extends its consulting for Chinese state-owned enterprises, which Schweizer says are “often used as tools of the Chinese state.”

The former Defense secretary also served as the vice chairman of the U.S. China-Business Council, a lobbying group for American companies to do business in China.

When the federal government deemed Huawei a security threat because of its close ties to the Chinese intelligence apparatus, the company hired the Cohen Group to negotiate with the U.S. director of national intelligence to find a way to sell its hardware in the United States.

Conclusion

In Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win, Schweizer calls for a ban on lobbying on behalf of Chinese military and intelligence-linked companies.

He writes that although “not all lobbying is bad,” that right does not extend to lobbying linked to the Chinese military-intelligence apparatus.

“Too many former politicians are making bundles of money representing these interests in the corridors of Washington power,” Schweizer charged.

‘Red-Handed’: 23 Former U.S. Senators and Congressmen Who Lobby for Chinese Military or Chinese Intelligence-Linked Companies (breitbart.com)

It’s Long Past Time to Dump the Masks

The face mask debate is unfortunately again rearing its ugly head in many parts of the country, and it’s becoming ever more clear that it will never entirely go away. Even as OMICRON confers some form of natural immunity to large segments of the population before it begins its fade into the sunset, the next sniffle-causing variant will inevitably come along and again compel paranoid hypochondriac leftists to cover their faces and hysterically demand you do so as well. Sadly, manufactured fear over Covid has truly broken so many people who will never, ever be the same.

Our side, the side of truth, data, and reality, can point to pre-Covid studies that showed masks to be non-effective against virus spread ‘till the cows come home. Theirs can point to non-randomized controlled ‘studies’ (you know, because having a control group in a ‘pandemic’ would be ‘unethical’) that use mannequins, models, or super-cherry-picked snippets of data from areas and time periods that they think bolster their narrative. But it seems that neither can land the deciding blow, both because of the lack of correctly administered randomized controlled studies in the Covid era and also because of the purportedly ‘common sense’ perception that that piece of cloth over everyone’s face is a ‘zero-cost’ intervention (it isn’t) that is totally worth it even if it helps a little (it doesn’t).

Sadly, the difficult-to-counter ‘iT WoULd hAvE BeEn WoooOrSe’ response has become the reliable Branch Covidian go-to when attempting to defend their useless interventions. But would it have been, really?

Enter Ian Miller, an entertainment industry content manager who, like many of us, quickly began questioning the establishment Covid narrative when it didn’t seem to line up with the actual facts on the ground. But instead of surrendering to defeat, Miller promptly put his day job experience dabbling in data analysis to work creating and distributing eye-popping charts that soon made him a Team Reality celebrity and a Branch Covidien foil.

You’ve probably seen them on Twitter being shared by prominent conservative politicians, media figures, and Team Reality proponents, or in posts on large news sites like Fox News, City Journal, and TheBlaze. Indeed, Ian’s charts—which list each specific coronavirus restriction implemented in a specific geographical area on a dateline which also devastatingly includes the rate of virus spread during that time period—have become THE go-to way to show the absurdity and unworkability of our overlords’ failed Covid policies. If a picture is worth a thousand words, these charts—each one of them—are worth at least a million.

Of course, as we unfortunately know, censorship of ideas they don’t like is alive and well. All Twitter has to do to erase evidence like this from the annals of Twitter history is to delete Ian Miller’s account, an action that could happen to any of us at any time. Such is the risk of daring to go against the established Faucian Covid narrative.

Thankfully, Ian has minimized the damage of that possibility by giving all of us an amazing gift in his new 217-page book, titled, “Unmasked: The Global Failure of Covid Mask Mandates.” In it, the author combines his famous charts with unflappable analysis that devastatingly rips the veil off the misleading pseudo-science surrounding masking we’ve been force fed for two years to reveal the forbidden truth—that masking and mask mandates have done absolutely nothing to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 worldwide.

“I’ve looked at data from all over the world, from the granular county level to entire countries, and have yet to find examples showing clear and sustained benefits to mask mandates,” Miller writes. “There has simply been no discernable pattern or correlation with mask mandates and better outcomes.”

From analyzing pre-Covid mask studies showing unequivocally that mask usage does not stop contagious respiratory viruses from spreading, to ripping apart “the experts’ new science” (including mask-use ‘studies’ from Arizona and Kansas with “significant flaws”), to highlighting real world data from places like Florida, California, Sweden, and countless others—with the charts to back it up—Miller devastatingly indicts, tries, and convicts the mask cult of misleading a gullible, frightened public into not just using a useless non-pharmaceutical intervention, but forcing it on others, including defenseless children, for years.

Think about it. If face masks ‘worked’ to stop or even slightly curb the spread of Covid-19, they should be able to point to place after place showing when the intervention was employed and how case numbers were affected. In other words, they should be able to do what Ian Miller has done in reverse. They can’t, obviously, because masks, and especially mask mandates, don’t work. At all. Not even a little bit.

Those of you who have followed my columns over the past two years know my position well. There are few things more diabolically evil than forcibly covering the face of another human being, especially a child. If there is any justice in the world, years from now society will look back with utter horror on what we did with lockdowns, masks, vaccine coercion, and all the rest, including and especially instilling the kind of fear and paranoia that never matched the actual death rate from this virus. When it does, Ian Miller’s book—and his charts—will be seen as key deciding blows that helped obliterate the mask cult for good.

Whoopie Goldberg claims Holocaust is 'not about race,' sparks major backlash | World Israel News

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow to announce hiatus to focus on movie and podcast projects

 This report comes from the New York Post, which says Rachel Maddow is expected to announce on her show Monday night that’s she’s going on hiatus to focus on podcast and film projects, including a movie directed by Ben Stiller. This is legitimately bad news, a Maddow’s show is the only one on MSNBC that can even be considered competition to Fox News’ primetime lineup.

The Post reports:

Rachel Maddow reportedly will go on hiatus from her primetime talk show on MSNBC to focus on movie and podcast projects, including a film directed by Ben Stiller.

Maddow told staffers at the left-leaning, Comcast-owned network that she will step aside for a few weeks to devote time to her side projects, Business Insider reported on Monday.

…

Maddow will executive produce a Focus Features movie based on her book and podcast, “Bag Man,” about a political bribery scandal.

Maddow gets paid $30 million a year to stay at MSNBC.

We honestly didn’t know she had a podcast or a book.

Ben Stiller actually gave Janeane Garafalo her start back when he had his own TV show — and when she was still funny.

Related:

Report: MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow to announce hiatus to focus on movie and podcast projects – twitchy.com

Rogan Responds to Spotify Outrage, Hammers Misinfo Censorship Hypocrisy

 World-famous podcaster Joe Rogan stirred up controversy with Cancel Culture mobs by interviewing medical professionals who questioned shifting narratives of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, rocker Neil Young pulled his music from Spotify in protest, causing Spotify and Rogan himself to respond.

The Joe Rogan Experience host released a video that could be described as a “non-apology” to the people offended by so-called “misinformation” in his podcast interviews. “The problem I have with the term ‘misinformation,’ especially today, is that many of the things that we thought of as misinformation just a short while ago are now accepted as fact,” he explained in a video on his Instagram page.

He provided examples of claims that went from alleged “misinformation” to widely accepted facts after a few months. Then, he noted how he had discussed many of those exact, now acceptable, narratives with qualified professionals: “All of those theories that at one point in time were banned, were openly discussed by those two men that I had on my podcast that had been accused of dangerous misinformation.”

 

He listed a few major COVID-19 claims that were censored for being so-called “conspiracy theories,” but now are the predominant explanations for the course of the pandemic: 

“If you said, ‘I don't think cloth masks work, you would be banned from social media. Now, that’s openly and repeatedly stated on CNN. If you said ‘I think it's possible that COVID-19 came from a lab’ you’d be banned from many social media platforms, now that's on the cover of Newsweek.”

Rogan did say, however, that he would accept disclaimers on his podcasts about COVID-19 “saying that you should speak with your physician and that these people and the opinions that they express are contrary to the opinions of the consensus of experts.”

Spotify announced in a blog that it is “working to add a content 

Spotify announced in a blog that it is “working to add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about COVID-19.” It further explained that “This advisory will direct listeners to our dedicated COVID-19 Hub, a resource that provides easy access to data-driven facts, up-to-date information as shared by scientists, physicians, academics and public health authorities around the world, as well as links to trusted sources.” 

In late January, Young issued an ultimatum to Spotify. “Neil Young posted a since-deleted letter to his management team and record label demanding that they remove his music from Spotify,” Rolling Stone reported Jan. 24. “‘I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform...They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both.” 

Young later accused Spotify of “‘spreading fake information about vaccines” and “potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation,’” according to the magazine.

Conservatives are under attack. Contact your local representative and demand Big Tech mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

Rogan Responds to Spotify Outrage, Hammers Misinfo Censorship Hypocrisy | Newsbusters

Penzey’s Spice Company Called All Republicans Racist, Then Lost 40,000 Customers in Two Weeks

IMAGE CREDIT

Republicans ‘raced out to buy a crapload of guns because maybe they were finally going to get their chance to shoot a Black person,’ Penzey’s Spices CEO wrote in a customer email.

Just two weeks after a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based spice company held a “Republicans are Racist” sale over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, it is dealing with a massive loss of business and openly begging for new customers.

Penzey’s Spices CEO Bill Penzey, who routinely uses his company’s email list to send anti-Republican screeds, sent a newsletter earlier this month in which he accused GOP voters of fantasizing about killing African Americans.

“Remember how Republicans, going against a mountain of evidence to the contrary, once again lied and said BLM [Black Lives Matter] wasn’t a peaceful movement but instead terrorists inciting violence throughout the country and then raced out to buy a crapload of guns because maybe they were finally going to get their chance to shoot a Black person?” he wrote. “What a bunch of racists.”

In a follow-up email Friday, Penzey acknowledged this allegation had cost his business a substantial number of newsletter subscribers.

“After starting the year with All Republicans are Republicans and following up with Republicans are Racists we’ve set a nice little Boycott Penzeys! surge in motion,” he admitted. “It certainly wasn’t unexpected, but if it’s within your means, you picking up a small stack of Gift Cards would help.”

Penzey informed supporters that his “Republicans are Racists” email cost his newsletter 40,005 subscribers—approximately 3 percent of its total. While this was offset by 30,000 new fans, he explained, he still needs to make up for the lost business and is offering a deal on Penzey’s Spices gift cards to lure them in “with the hope this might make it a bit easier for you to share some and possibly get a few good new customers to replace the ones we’ve lost.”

His note then took on a more desperate tone, imploring fellow leftists to support his business by appealing to their base political biases.

“If you can’t even begin to fathom how to ‘compromise’ with January 6th, or the Republican vaccine lies needlessly killing 10,000 Americans every week, if you have no desire to become half-way racist, and if their intent to destroy our climate for one thousand years to come doesn’t have you asking: ‘What if we just destroyed it for five-hundred years instead?’ we would be better off with you on this Voice Of Cooking email list,” he wrote.

Penzey has long used “A Note from Bill” emails to customers to launch attacks on Republicans, and in 2019 he spent $700,000 on Facebook ads targeting then-President Donald Trump. But his “Republicans are Racists” stunt brought him international attention, and prompted tens of thousands of customers to shun his business.

Still, he told The Daily Mail that he was not worried about backlash.

“From what we’ve heard in the way of feedback a lot of our Republican customers wish we would stay out of politics but they are pretty honest about the problems with open racism in their party since President Trump took control,” he said. “So on one hand they wish we would tone down the racism thing but on the other hand we have really good spices and they are not going to sacrifice those.”

Unfortunately for Penzey, it turns out they did.

Penzey’s Company Called Republicans Racist, Lost 40,000 Customers (thefederalist.com)