Thursday, February 16, 2023

House GOP seeks FBI investigation into Biden appointee over espionage concerns - Ben Whedon

 

by Ben Whedon

The lawmakers took issue with Dominic Ng's appointment to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Advisory Council.

 

A group of House Republicans has called upon FBI Director Christopher Wray to investigate a Biden administration appointee over his alleged connections to Chinese intelligence organizations.

"It has come to our attention that President Biden has appointed an individual with existing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ties to an advisory role," GOP Reps. Lance Gooden, Texas; Tom Tiffany, Wis.; Lauren Boebert, Colo.; Ben Cline, Va.; Doug LaMalfa, Calif.; and Keith Self, Texas; wrote to Wray. The Daily Caller News Foundation first reported on the letter.

The lawmakers took issue with Dominic Ng's appointment to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Advisory Council, pointing to his past work and claiming that "recent and substantial allegations discovered Mr. Ng's past connections to U.S.-based Chinese third party entities."

"[W]e request the FBI investigate and provide a report to Congress on the extent of Mr. Ng's knowledge of sensitive information, as well as any potential violations of the Espionage Act," they demanded of Wray.

"China has proved themselves as our greatest adversary and foreign competitor, and yet our leaders continuously jeopardize U.S. national security by allowing the People's Republic of China (PRC) to infiltrate our third-party sector and federal government," the Republicans contended. "This lack of scrutiny should be promptly evaluated, and the Biden Administration should take immediate steps to ensure blunders like this will not happen again."

The Republicans went on to further detail Ng's alleged involvement in other supposed Chinese front groups and also noted his personal financial contributions to Democratic political causes.

"Between 2013 and 2017, he served as the executive director of the China Overseas Exchange Association (COEA) which is a front organization for the United Front Work Department (UFWD)," they asserted. "UFWD is a Chinese intelligence service whose mission is to liaison with foreign political parties, influence operations, and collect intelligence."

"Organizations like the UFWD and its affiliated groups play an increasingly important role in Chinese foreign policy and allow political actors like Mr. Ng to gain influence in sensitive American institutions to advocate for the interests of communist China," they continued. "This tactic is regularly employed by the CCP to infiltrate governments and influence policies for CCP-oriented outcomes."

"If the Biden Administration does not take the CCP seriously, our leaders are risking an endless slew of national security breaches," they warned the FBI director.

 
Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/house-gop-seeks-fbi-investigation-biden-appointee-over-espionage

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