Calls to investigate Republican Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell’s wife spread online after the Daily Caller News Foundation reported on her multiple appointments by Chinese Communist Party officials.
Elaine Chao, McConnell’s Taiwanese-born wife, was named to several United Front Work Department-linked posts, some of which coincided with her time as Labor and Transportation secretary, according to Daily Caller News Foundation translations of Chinese media reports. Critics claimed these appointments were a counterintelligence issue and raised questions about McConnell’s own record in office.
Former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia seized on the opportunity to confirm her suspicions about Chao and McConnell.
“I called out Elaine Chao months ago for being a suspected Chinese spy,” Greene said in a Tuesday X post. “When is there going to be an investigation? And when is there going to be proof of life of powerful Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell?? Is the state of Kentucky really putting up with this???”
Chao did not list her United Front Work appointments on her 2017 confirmation paperwork. Moreover, Patrick O’Connor, her spokesperson, rejected the idea that Chao or her family members held any foreign government roles, even after receiving photo proof of her meetings with CCP and UFWD leaders.
The House Select Committee on the CCP described United Front Work as “a unique blend of engagement, influence activities, and intelligence operations that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses to shape its political environment, including to influence other countries’ policy toward the PRC [People’s Republic of China] and to gain access to advanced foreign technology.”
The White House and the State Department did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
China hawks said the report was proof Beijing had already bought access to American politicians.
“The CCP has ties with those at the top of America’s political system. It’s time to make our politicians choose: America or China,” lawyer and noted CCP critic Gordon G. Chang said on X.
“The PRC got its money’s worth out of both Elaine Chao and Mitch McConnell,” Grant Newsham, senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy, said on X, following up on Chang’s post.
Other X users tied the Chao report to McConnell’s record on election integrity.
“Given what we now know about China’s meddling in the 2020 election, this might help explain why Mitch McConnell has worked so hard to block the SAVE America Act,” Sean Davis, CEO and co-founder of the Federalist, said on X.
Davis alluded to President Donald Trump’s July 16 speech, where he said the CIA and FBI suppressed evidence that China hacked 220 million voter-registration files from over a dozen states ahead of the 2020 election.
A former Senate aide framed the report around the issue of political leaders with dual citizenship.
“No American politician should have dual citizenship, or conflicts of interests with foreign nations,” Russ Walker, former advisor to Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, said on X. “This should be a simple standard.”
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