House Republicans open probe into Walz engagement with China

House Republicans are seizing on Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz’s role leading field trips to China as the basis for a new probe.

House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Friday seeking information on Chinese entities and individuals with whom the Minnesota governor may have engaged, as well as any documents and communications between Walz’s office and the FBI pertaining to warnings or guidance about government officials engaging with Chinese government representatives or proxies. It’s unclear whether the FBI has had any such communications.

The new probe follows a pattern of House Republicans opening inquiries into their top political rivals and shows how they are shifting investigatory firepower onto the Harris-Walz ticket as they wrap up an impeachment inquiry report concerning President Biden and his family’s foreign business dealings.

Walz spent one year teaching high school in China, moving to the country in 1989. Then, as high school teachers in Nebraska and Minnesota, Walz and his wife led field trips to the country.

According to The New York Times, Walz has visited the country at least 30 times, 

Walz was also a fellow at China’s Macao Polytechnic University in 2007.

The letter asks the FBI to acknowledge whether it has ever offered any defensive briefings to Walz, a practice by which the agency informs politicians and other figures whether they may be a target of Chinese intelligence or influence efforts.

Walz has also been a critic of China, meeting with the Dalai Lama and a Hong Kong democracy activist, and cosponsoring the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act in the House.

Comer also aims to flag Walz’s contacts with Chinese officials and connected entities as governor, such as a meeting with the Consul General Zhao Jian in March of this year.

The letter also asserts Walz attended a U.S.-China Peoples Friendship Association event in 2019, citing a promotional document for the event that notes Walz was invited to speak. It is not clear, however, that Walz attended the event; the Chinese Embassy’s recap of the event made no mention of him.

Comer asks the FBI to turn over information on more than a dozen Chinese entities, including some it’s unclear Walz had any contact with.

“The CCP [Chinese Communist Party] 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. Americans should be deeply concerned that Governor Walz, Kamala Harris’s vice-presidential running mate, has a longstanding and cozy relationship with China,” Comer said in a statement.

Walz campaign spokesperson Teddy Tschann defended the governor’s record on the CCP and took a swipe at the Trump campaign.

“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,” Tschann said in a statement. “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.”

A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee Democrats said that Comer’s new probe into Walz “is nothing more than a political stunt to aid the former president.” 

“For the umpteenth time, Chairman Comer shows the American people that his only real priority in Congress is doing Donald Trump’s bidding,” the Democratic spokesperson said, adding that Comer “is doing his part to ensure that the 118th Congress will go down as the least productive in history.”

Walz’s gubernatorial office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who is running for Senate, has also publicly raised concern about Walz’s trips to China, writing to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin this week questioning whether Walz complied foreign travel reporting requirements for his security clearance as he traveled to China while serving in the National Guard.

Updated at 5:24 p.m.