AOC Part of a Group of Politicians Who Now Stand Accused of Paying a Foreign Agent to Help Their Re-Elections in 2022
2023-02-11
Just as the temperature of Chinese-American relations is approaching a boil, a new report shows that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a handful of other lawmakers paid a Chinese foreign agent to help them keep their jobs during the mid-terms
According to those filings from the Federal Election Commission, AOC paid Sing Tao Newspapers almost $1,500 to run advertisements for her campaign during the 2022 midterms.
Though the most recognizable name out of the group, AOC was far from the only one, however. Elsewhere, in the House, Representatives Grace Meng (D-NY), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), and Kevin Mullin (D-CA) also reportedly paid the Chinese newspaper between $1,000 and $7,000 each to run similar ads for their respective midterm campaigns leading up to last November.
Sing Tao U.S. is a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Sing Tao News Corporation Ltd., and, according to this Fox News Article, the Chinese newspaper outlet was reportedly classified as a foreign agent by the Justice Department in August 2021. For those of you keeping score at home, that timeframe was a considerable amount of time before the run-up to the 2022 midterms. In fact, it was more than a full year prior.
Sing Tao’s U.S. operations also reportedly include a number of newspapers in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco in addition to a radio station based out of Burlingame, California.
The majority of the company was reportedly purchased by the daughter of a wealthy Chinese property owner in June 2021, at which point the DOJ ordered the company to register as a Chinese foreign agent two months later.
Although the media company has insisted it is free from the Chinese Communist Party’s influence, it has been classified as both a foreign agent and a pro-Beijing outlet as tensions between Washington and Beijing continue to rise over the territorial status of the island nation of Taiwan.
Democratic House Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, who was elected to the House by New York’s 14th Congressional district covering parts of Brooklyn and the Bronx, is already under investigation by the House Ethics Committee – although it still remains unclear what prompted the investigation and what the probe is in connection to.
House Reps. Susan Wild (D-PA) and Michael Guest (R-MS) announced the House Ethics probe into AOC in December 2022, although they emphasized that the investigation "does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred."
While it is unclear whether the investigation is connected to AOC allegedly paying a Chinese foreign agent to help with her 2022 midterm reelection bid, the 33-year-old New York congresswoman is "fully participating" with the ongoing probe.
"[I have] always taken ethics incredibly seriously, refusing any donations from lobbyists, corporations, or other special interests,” AOC said in a statement after the investigation was announced. “We are confident that this matter will be dismissed."
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