Huawei Lobbyist Gives Thousands to Democrats’ Midterm Campaigns
By: Andrew Thornebrooke
November 3, 2022: A lobbyist for a Chinese company deemed a national security threat has donated thousands of dollars to at least eight Democratic congressional campaigns.
Thomas Green, senior counsel at multinational law firm Sidley Austin and top lobbyist for Chinese telecom giant Huawei, personally contributed more than $10,000 across eight Democratic campaigns in the last month, according to data from OpenSecrets, a nonprofit group that tracks political spending.
The contributions were made primarily to Democratic campaigns in battleground states or where the Democratic contender was otherwise struggling.
The contributions included payments of $2,000 to Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.); $2,000 to Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.); $1,000 to North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, who is running for a Senate seat; $1,000 to Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, who is running for the Senate; $1,500 to Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), $500 to Glenn Ivey, who is running to represent Maryland in the House; $1,500 to Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who is running for a Senate seat; and $1,000 to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.).
Green has helped to lead Huawei’s lobbying team since 2019, when the company hired Sidley Austin to lobby for its interests in matters of export controls, trade, sanctions, and national security.
At that time, the Trump administration had restricted the company’s ability to do business with the U.S. government due to the company’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and apparent efforts to undermine U.S. foreign policy efforts.
Huawei was then charged in 2020 for conspiring to steal trade secrets from numerous U.S. technology firms and was ultimately declared a national security threat by the Federal Communications Commission in 2020.
The Biden administration launched another investigation into Huawei earlier this year, following reports that the company illegally used cell phone towers to collect information about U.S. military facilities in order to transmit that data to the CCP. Additionally, the Justice Department announced several new cases last month alleging that CCP intelligence officers attempted to interfere with the case against Huawei on behalf of the Chinese regime and for the benefit of the company.
According to court documents (pdf), the Chinese agents attempted to illegally torpedo the case against Huawei by bribing a U.S. government employee to steal top secret documents including witness lists, details on employees associated with the case, and prosecutors’ notes, which, according to court documents, were “expected to cause serious damage to the national security of the United States.” Green also defended former Trump aide Rick Gates, who pleaded guilty in 2019 to evading taxes and violating federal lobbying laws by concealing millions of dollars from business dealings in Ukraine.
The news is just the latest in a growing list of accusations against prominent Democrats with alleged ties to the CCP.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) was forced to fire a congressional aide last month after an investigation found the employee had attempted to set up meetings with members of Congress at the request of the Chinese embassy in Washington.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, meanwhile, was accused last month of delivering $715 million in taxpayer monies to the U.S. subsidiary of a Chinese company with deep links to the CCP. Whitmer defended the move as “economic development.”
The Epoch Times has requested comment from Green and all Democratic campaigns that received the funds.
Source: The Epoch Times
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