A conservative watchdog group filed a lawsuit last week against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for records relating to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s “connections to the Chinese Communist Party.”
“Quite simply, there is a massive cover-up of what the Deep State knows about Tim Walz’s connections [to the] Chinese Communist Party,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, the organization that filed the lawsuit.
Walz’s numerous trips to China became a major issue of his 2024 vice presidential run as the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability launched an investigation into the governor’s “longstanding connections to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) entities and officials.”
The chairman of that committee, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., has led investigations into the CCP’s broader efforts to infiltrate and influence various sectors of the United States. Comer has stated that China’s infiltration campaign has included efforts to influence American elected officials.
“Mr. Walz has visited China dozens of times, served as a fellow at a Chinese institution that maintains a devotion to the CCP, and spoke alongside the President of a Chinese organization the State Department exposed as a CCP effort to influence and co-opt local leaders,” said Comer when he announced the Walz investigation in August.
“FBI briefers recently informed the Committee that the Bureau’s Foreign Influence Task Force investigates CCP activity that is similar to China’s engagement with Governor Walz. The American people deserve to fully understand how deep Governor Walz’s relationship with China goes,” added the chairman.
His committee published information obtained from a whistleblower in October, which included a screenshot of an internal message among DHS employees in which one DHS official said: “Walt’s [sic] got the Vp. You all have no idea how this 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.”
In a letter to former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Comer said the message “shows DHS officials with subject matter expertise discussing, on the same day Vice President Kamala Harris selected Governor Walz as her running mate, the CCP’s targeting of Governor Walz.”
“A whistleblower has provided further information to the Committee that indicates officials from DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) have been involved in the Department’s investigative and/or intelligence work connected with the CCP, the state of Minnesota, and Governor Walz,” Comer’s letter continued.
In December, Comer said DHS had failed to cooperate with the investigation or produce records.
Judicial Watch also filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in October seeking communications related to the whistleblower report as well as any “Intelligence Information Reports and Regional Intelligence Notes” on Walz. However, DHS failed to respond to the request, according to Judicial Watch.
“Secretary Noem should quickly release any records in response to Judicial Watch’s lawsuit,” Fitton said.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
