A recent FOIA lawsuit, launched by conservative legal group Judicial Watch, uncovered 7 pages of DHS records revealing concerns about Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Reacting to the evidence, DHS and FBI investigators noted that China is happy with its 2024 VP nomination.
For context, users in a DHS group chat drew attention to Walz as a potential CCP target for influence due to his extensive connections in China, including 30 trips to the country. Additionally, a whistleblower brought attention to the significant internal skepticism over a meeting request by Chang Wang, who whistleblowers noted was connected to the CCP.
In any case, newly released documents revealed the major concerns within the government. For example, Homeland Security said, “China is happy,” in an August 7, 2024, Microsoft Teams group chat. Another DHS official noted, ‘Walt’s got the VP. You all have no idea how these feeds into what prc [People’s Republic of China] has been doing here with him and local gov. It’s seriously a line of the intel. Target someone who is perceived they can get to DC.”
Speaking about the connections to Chang Wang, another message noted, “so this person requested a meeting with Walz due to the house investigation they have walz for his relationship china. Then he drafted this letter for upcoming travel he has to china assuming he will get detained.”
Replying, another user said, “I read this as TNR (trans-national refuge) but what am I missing?” The original poster replied, “That’s what it looks like…begs the question, if he anticipates being detained, why go? weird.” After a few more messages, one agent stated, “i’m not sure it counts as TNR since it seems to assume being snatched while in China, so it isn’t crossing borders. if he claims they have been pressuring or seeking to coerce him while he’s home in, apparently MN, that would count as TNR. I don’t know the background on him. [Redacted] is my TNR lead.”
Continuing, the same source stated, “mind you, if he’s a known dissident they probably were pressuring him while he was in the U.S. If he went back anyway, Navalny style, and got pinched, it’s just that part that might not be treated as TNR. There’s no TNR statute per se (only proposals) so FBI investigates it as elements of the underlying offenses (like the stalking, extortion, assault, kidnapping, etc.”
One of the participants in the group chat noted, “Not my area but his itinerary entry for 9/29 is interesting appears he is a witness for the plaintiffs in a court case. Could be related to why he thinks he may be detained. Also is there additional context on why he requested that meeting or the proposed topic?”
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Concluding the document, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton slammed the cover-up and explained the significance of these messages. The conservative legal activist noted, “These documents uncovered by Judicial Watch show that the Biden administration covered up intelligence concerns about Tim Walz’s connections to China. This is a major scandal.”