Gov. Kathy Hochul was left “furious” after learning one of her former aides acted as an alleged Chinese spy in her office and within the state government.
“I’m furious and I’m outraged and I’m absolutely shocked at how brazen her behavior was,” Hochul told WNYC’s Sean Carlson Tuesday afternoon, referring to Linda Sun, a former deputy chief of staff who was charged with acting as a foreign agent for China.
“It was a betrayal of trust,” she continued.
“We’ve been working with the Department of Justice in this investigation, and we’ll continue to make sure that all the information that’s out there is revealed and that justice is served,” she said.
Hochul made the remarks shortly after Sun, 41, and her 40-year-old husband, Chris Hu, pleaded not guilty to charges of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, visa fraud, smuggling, and money laundering.
The indictment alleges that Sun used her position to help her husband’s shady medical equipment business profit off of the pandemic response. It also alleges she directly tried to sway the state’s dealings with China in exchange for lavish gifts.
Sun was first hired by Cuomo’s administration in 2012 and worked in several different roles. She was hired by Hochul as a deputy chief of staff in 2021 after she took over as governor following Cuomo’s resignation.
Hochul was quick to distance herself from the mid-level staffer after Sun and Hu’s arrest Tuesday morning.
“This individual was hired by the Executive Chamber more than a decade ago. We terminated her employment in March 2023 after discovering evidence of misconduct, immediately reported her actions to law enforcement and have assisted law enforcement throughout this process,” a Hochul spokesperson wrote in a statement earlier in the day Tuesday.
Cuomo has also stayed relatively quiet, even taking the opportunity to deflect the blame onto Hochul.
“National security is critical and must be free from foreign influence,” Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi wrote in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
“While Ms. Sun was promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff in the subsequent administration, during our time she worked in a handful of agencies and was one of many community liaisons who had little to no interaction with the governor.”
