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(WASHINGTON) — Republican Rep. James Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said Friday he is launching an investigation into what he says is Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s “extensive engagement with China.”
The probe into Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate is a sign of what the House Republican majority will focus its attention on regarding the new Democratic presidential ticket in the months leading up to Election Day.
Walz was a former public school teacher and served in the Army National Guard before being elected to Congress in 2005 and later becoming Minnesota’s governor.
Comer, in his announcement on Friday, cited recent articles from the New York Post and Newsweek examining ties between Walz and China — including comments he made about visiting the nation 30 times, some of which were teaching trips, and a 2016 interview where he said he didn’t “fall into the category that China necessarily needs to be an adversarial relationship.”
“The CCP has sought to destroy the United States through coordinated influence and infiltration campaigns that target every aspect of American life, including our own elected officials,” Comer wrote.
“Walz’s connections to China raise questions about possible CCP [Chinese Communist Party] influence in his decision-making as governor — and should he be elected, as vice president,” he said.
A Walz spokesman shot back.
“Throughout his career, Governor Walz has stood up to the CCP, fought for human rights rights and democracy, and always put American jobs and manufacturing first. Republicans are twisting basic facts and desperately lying to distract from the Trump-Vance agenda: praising dictators, and sending American jobs to China. Vice President Harris and Governor Walz will ensure we win the competition with China, and will always stand up for our values and interests in the face of China’s threats,” said Teddy Tschann, a spokesperson for Walz.
Comer sent a letter to FBI director Christopher Wray requesting documents and information no later than Aug. 30.
A spokeswoman for Democrats on the Oversight committee also criticized Comer, calling his action “nothing more than a political stunt.”
“For the umpteenth time, Chairman Comer shows the American people that his only real priority in Congress is doing Donald Trump’s bidding. Rather than tackling issues that matter to Americans—like protecting our children from the epidemic of gun violence, holding the perpetrators of the climate crisis accountable, or even investigating Donald Trump for his own record of selling out the White House to foreign autocrats and turning the presidency into a corrupt money-making enterprise — Chairman Comer is doing his part to ensure that the 118th Congress will go down as the least productive in history,” the spokesperson said.
Previously, Comer took the reins of House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. The probe stalled as lawmakers failed to substantiate their allegations that Biden used his office to participate in and profit from his family’s foreign business dealings — which Biden adamantly denied.
As a congressman, Walz served on Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which was responsible for monitoring whether acts of the People’s Republic of China violated human rights.
Walz, in the 2016 interview that’s been a focus of recent news coverage, said the commission came to be after the U.S. normalized trade relations with China to “try to keep a focus that we’ll trade with China but they have to play by the rules both from an environmental, fair trade but also human rights perspective.”
The FBI did not immediately respond to an ABC News request for comment on Comer’s request.
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