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Ever since taking control of the House in January, Republican lawmakers have used their posts to push baseless claims that powerful figures linked to the Chinese government wield control over the Democratic Party and its policy agenda.
With thinly veiled racism and debunked conspiracy theories, Republicans have accused everyone, from California Reps. Eric Swalwell and Judy Chu to President Joe Biden, of working at the behest of nefarious Chinese officials.
But it seems it’s the Republican Party that has a troubling political relationship with figures linked to the Chinese government.
Last week, federal prosecutors unsealed their November indictment of Gal Luft, a fugitive now facing charges including serving as an unregistered agent for the Chinese government and trafficking weapons.
Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement:
[Luft] subverted foreign agent registration laws in the United States to seek to promote Chinese policies by acting through a former high-ranking U.S. Government official; he acted as a broker in deals for dangerous weapons and Iranian oil; and he told multiple lies about his crimes to law enforcement.
Luft is accused of recruiting a former U.S. government official and paying the official to make public statements that were in China’s interest. The official, who is not named in the indictment, served as an adviser to Donald Trump as president-elect in late 2016.
In ultraconservative circles, Luft is better known as a key spreader of unsubstantiated claims that the Biden family has engaged in corrupt business with Chinese officials. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who had touted Luft as an “informant” and a “very credible witness,” is among the Republicans to express support for Luft even after the serious charges were brought.
Rep. Daniel Goldman, D-N.Y., laid out the stakes quite well. According to The New York Times, he said:
These recent revelations naturally raise serious concerns that congressional Republicans’ purported ‘whistle-blowers’ are manipulating them by tailoring misinformation to support unfounded and baseless allegations made by Chairman Comer.
But Luft isn’t alone when it comes to Republican affiliates with curious links to China.
In March, federal authorities also indicted Chinese dissident Guo Wengui, a friend to Steve Bannon who became a major financier for right-wing causes in the United States — including efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and websites that platformed baseless allegations of corruption within the Biden family. In addition to the U.S. charges of fraud and money laundering, to which Guo has pleaded not guilty, he has faced a host of accusations in China, all of which he has denied. Believed to have sought exile in the United States around 2015, he’s currently detained ahead of a U.S. trial in 2024.
Remember this the next time Republicans try to paint Democrats as stooges for nefarious foreigners acting against American interests.