One of the top ten November surprises is the “unearthing” by Fox News Digital of a 2021 letter by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic candidate for vice president (New York Post, November 1, 2024).
In the letter, Walz speaks of Minnesota’s “longstanding relationship with the people of China” and how the state has “hosted numerous senior Chinese leaders for decades,” presumably during his tenure as governor as well.
Longstanding relationship
The letter is currently being displayed by the Minnesota International Chinese School on its YouTube channel.
“Minnesota has a longstanding relationship with the people of China,” Walz said in the letter.
“The state has promoted Minnesota’s connections with China and has hosted numerous senior Chinese leaders for decades.”…
The letter came within 10 days of Zhao Jian, the Consul General of China in Chicago, recording a four-minute greeting in Chinese for the school, according to the school’s YouTube channel.
Walz’s connection to Jian has been under scrutiny in recent weeks after the House Oversight Committee unearthed a meeting between Walz and Jian earlier this year discussing “China-U.S. relations and sub-national cooperation.”
While the specifics of the meeting aren’t clear, a 2022 report from the Biden administration’s Director of National Intelligence (DNI) highlighted how U.S.-based Chinese consulates like the one Walz met with “play an active role” in “foreign influence operations” on behalf of the CCP.
Okay, not really surprising. We already knew that Walz has long been chummy with Chinese Communist Party officials—before and after he became governor. So maybe we’d better assign the revelation of this letter to the bottom ten November surprises.
One thing this bit of public evidence accomplishes, though, is to make it a bit harder for Walz to claim (credibly) that he just had no idea that under his leadership his state government has been hosting Chinese Communist Party officials.
The Post story mentions the House Oversight Committee’s investigation of Walz.
On October 29, the Committee announced that its chairman, James Comer, was releasing “Partial Whistleblower Disclosures After DHS Stonewalls Investigation into Governor Walz’s Ties to the CCP,” a belated follow-up of its ignored September 30 subpoena to the Department of Homeland Security demanding “documents, communications, and intelligence reports in DHS’s custody related to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s connections to the Chinese Communist Party.”
The announcement quotes Comer:
“Because of DHS’s lack of compliance with the Committee’s legal subpoena and unwillingness to cooperate in good faith, the Committee is releasing a small portion of the Department’s internal communications it received from a whistleblower. The information 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,” wrote Chairman Comer. “The Committee is releasing the message as an example of communications within DHS’s possession in which DHS officials express concern about the CCP targeting politicians and their influence operations at the state and local levels—and specifically, concerns about the CCP’s influence operations as they relate to Governor Walz.”
Why only a “small portion”?
Cover-up
The Committee press release also quotes Comer as saying that it seems to him that although “DHS officials are specifically concerned about Governor Walz’s involvement with the PRC…DHS leadership is covering up such concerns by refusing to produce related documents and communications.”
I believe that Comer is right. It’s a cover-up! Moreover, I believe that we have good reason to believe that the reason for the cover-up by the hyper-politicized DHS is political.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the Oversight Committee issues a full report on Walz’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party well before our nominal Election Day, November 5. At least a day before or a couple of hours before.
Also see:
House Oversight Committee: October 29, 2024 Letter to DHS Secretary Mayorkas
StopTheChinazis.org: “Tim Walz, the Communist Anticommunist”
StopTheChinazis.org: “The Mystery of the Missing FBI File on Chinese Communist Party Associate Tim Walz”
StopTheChinazis.org: “Comer’s House Oversight Committee Subpoenas DHS for CCP–Walz Documents”
