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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and other members of Congress paid thousands of dollars in campaign cash to a Chinese foreign agent, according to a review of campaign finance records. AOC, along with two Democrats and one Republican, were involved in the payments.
“Reps. Kevin Mullin, D.-Calif., Grace Meng, D.-N.Y, and Nicole Malliotakis, R.-N.Y. joined Ocasio Cortez in pushing campaign cash to Sing Tao U.S., a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based Sing Tao News Corporation Ltd, for advertising expenses during the midterm election cycle,” Fox News reported in February.
“Those campaigns, in other words, had sent their money to a Chinese-owned entity that the Department of Justice forced to register as a Chinese foreign agent in August 2021 as tensions rose between Washington and Beijing,” the report continued.
After Justice Department officials decided that Sing Tao U.S. was a foreign political activity, all of the campaigns had disbursed money to the firm, the outlet noted further, adding:
Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign dropped nearly $1,500 on advertisements with Sing Tao Newspapers during the midterm election cycle after it had registered as a foreign agent, while Reps. Mullin, Meng, and Malliotakis paid between $1,000 and $7,000 to various Sing Tao entities as part of their campaign advertising expenses, Federal Election Commission filings show.
Sing Tao’s United States operations include Chinese language publications in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. It also has a radio station in Burlingame, California. The paper is considered pro-Beijing and receives more than half of its content from the Chinese company Star Production (Shenzhen) Limited, Axios previously noted.
Sing Tao U.S. has claimed that it is not influenced by the Chinese Communist Party, but in fact, China is among the “world’s most restrictive media environments, relying on censorship to control information in the news, online, and on social media,” according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
At times, the ChiCom government has limited or cut off media access to its people, monitored and shuttered publications, and arrested and jailed dissidents as part of its effort to control information.
Meanwhile, a top Air Force general issued a shocking ‘gut feeling’ warning to those in his chain of command last week warning them to get read for a major conflict with China in two years. Gen. Mike Minihan, head of Air Mobility Command, said in a memo obtained by NBC News, “I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me will fight in 2025.”
The news outlet reported further:
Air Mobility Command has nearly 50,000 service members and nearly 500 planes and is responsible for transport and refueling.
Minihan said in the memo that because both Taiwan and the U.S. will have presidential elections in 2024, the U.S. will be “distracted,” and Chinese President Xi Jinping will have an opportunity to move on Taiwan.
In the memo, the AMC commander laid out his objectives for his personnel to make preparations, which include building “a fortified, ready, integrated, and agile Joint Force Maneuver Team ready to fight and win inside the first island chain.”
The signed memo was sent to all air wing commanders within the command and other operational commanders throughout the Air Force. It orders them to report to him all significant efforts to prepare for fighting China by Feb. 28.
During the next month, the memo directs all AMC personnel to “fire a clip into a 7-meter target with the full understanding that unrepentant lethality matters most,” adding, “Aim for the head.” In addition, he ordered all of his personnel to update medical and other records as well as emergency contacts.
In March, he ordered all personnel to “consider their personal affairs and whether a visit should be scheduled with their servicing base legal office to ensure they are legally ready and prepared.”
And, he advised AMC personnel to take on some risks in training. “Run deliberately, not recklessly,” he writes, though later in the memo, he added: “If you are comfortable in your approach to training, then you are not taking enough risk.”
