Chao Down: With CCP Ties, Mitch McConnell’s Wife Putting Political Establishment’s Stock on Unappetizing Menu
What if one of Washington’s most powerful political families had a documented connection to organizations tied to the Chinese Communist Party, and virtually nobody in Washington thought it was worth asking questions? Joshua Philipp, Nan Su, and Jan Jekielek, all from The Epoch Times, can dissect a bombshell Daily Caller investigation uncovering Chinese government and state-media records indicating that Elaine Chao, wife of former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, received multiple appointments from Chinese government and United Front Work Department-linked organizations, including appointments that overlapped with her service as a U.S. Cabinet secretary.
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- CCP-linked appointments allegedly overlapped with Chao’s Cabinet service
- Chinese records raise questions about undisclosed foreign-government relationships
- Why did Washington never seriously scrutinize these connections?
- United Front organizations cultivate influence among foreign elites
- Chao’s case could expose a larger CCP influence problem
The investigation found that Chao received at least four Chinese government positions since 2008, including roles connected to United Front organizations. One organization appointed her as an advisor and committee member while she was serving as Transportation secretary, while another reportedly named her an honorary chairman while she was Labor secretary. The United Front Work Department has been identified by U.S. authorities as an arm of the CCP used to advance Beijing’s interests, cultivate relationships and conduct influence operations.
Even more striking, Chao reportedly did not disclose these positions during her 2017 Senate confirmation process for Transportation secretary, despite being required to list positions held during the previous decade. Her spokesman has denied that she ever held a foreign-government position or acted on behalf of one, raising an obvious question: How do Chinese government records describing these appointments square with that denial?
But the revelations raise questions far beyond Elaine Chao. How long have these relationships been known inside Washington? How could the wife of the most powerful man in the Senate maintain documented relationships with CCP-linked organizations without generating intense political scrutiny? And why does there appear to have been little interest in vetting those relationships during Chao’s years in the Cabinet—or during McConnell’s decades at the center of American power?
Turnabout would never be permitted inside Communist China. Beijing would hardly tolerate the spouse of one of its most powerful political leaders maintaining comparable relationships with American organizations. Yet Washington appears to have operated under an entirely different standard.
Philipp, Su and Jekielek can examine the significance of the newly uncovered records, explain how the CCP’s United Front system cultivates influential relationships overseas and explore whether Chao’s connections represent something far more consequential: an example of how deeply Chinese Communist Party influence may have penetrated the highest levels of American political power while Washington’s political establishment simply looked the other way.
RELEVANT ARTICLE:
OPTIONAL Q&A:
- What do these newly uncovered Chinese records actually establish about Elaine Chao’s relationships with CCP-linked organizations?
- How significant is it that some appointments reportedly overlapped with Chao’s U.S. Cabinet service?
- What is the United Front Work Department’s role in cultivating influential Americans and foreign political relationships?
- Why would these alleged appointments not have triggered greater scrutiny during Chao’s Senate confirmation?
- How could such relationships remain largely unexamined while Mitch McConnell occupied enormous power in Washington?
- How long might senior officials in Washington have known about Chao’s Chinese connections?
- What does China’s treatment of foreign influence inside its own political system tell us about this double standard?
- Does the Chao story suggest a much broader problem of CCP influence inside America’s political establishment?
ABOUT JOSHUA PHILIPP…
Joshua Philipp is an award-winning journalist and Senior Investigative Reporter at The Epoch Times. He is the host of The Josh Philipp Show, a program that dives deep into news stories, to make sense of what’s going on beyond the headlines and ‘Crossroads,’ a news and analysis program on EpochTV. His works have included breakthrough investigations into the origins of Covid-19 and the Wuhan laboratory in the early days of the pandemic. He spearheaded the first documentary on the lab leak origins of the COVID-19 virus, released in April 2020. This groundbreaking documentary garnered over 75 million views, and while many tried to label it misinformation, its findings have since been vindicated by the White House and US intelligence agencies.
The Josh Philipp Show – YouTube
Crossroads with Joshua Philipp – YouTube
ABOUT NAN SU…
Nan Su is currently a Senior Reporter for the Epoch Times, a New York-based newspaper published in 36 countries and 22 languages. Mr. Su’s focus has been subjects related to China.
Born and raised in China, Mr. Nan Su came to the United States in 1989. Since 2003, he has served as a news commentator for the SOH International Chinese Radio Network and NTD International TV Network, focusing on news related to China. Over the past two decades, Mr. Su has delivered numerous speeches at public events on a wide range of China-related topics.
As an expert on China, Mr. Su’s work has covered extensively on subjects such as the threat of CCP’s global expansion, the security of Taiwan and Taiwan Strait, CCP’s human rights abuses in China, China’s economy, traditional Chinese culture before communism, forced organ harvesting in China, and the struggle for freedom in Hong Kong.
ABOUT JAN JEKIELEK…
Jan Jekielek is a NYT bestselling author and award-winning journalist and filmmaker with over 20 years at The Epoch Times, where he now serves as senior editor and host of the show American Thought Leaders. His career has spanned academia, human rights work, and most recently, media. Jan specializes in long-form discussions that tackle the grand narratives of our time. He’s the author of the NYT bestseller Killed to Order, and has produced the films DeSantis: Florida vs. Lockdowns, The Unseen Crisis, Finding Manny, and The Newlyweds.
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