Former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao reportedly received multiple appointments from Chinese government entities and organizations connected to the Chinese Communist Party’s global influence apparatus, including positions that overlapped with her service at the highest levels of the United States government.
The explosive findings were revealed in a new investigation by the Daily Caller News Foundation, which reviewed Chinese government announcements, state-run media reports and archived records.
Chao, the wife of longtime Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, served as Labor secretary throughout the George W. Bush administration and later as President Donald Trump’s Transportation secretary from January 2017 until January 2021.
According to the DCNF investigation, Chinese records identify Chao as having received at least four appointments since 2008 from a municipal government or organizations connected to the CCP’s United Front Work Department.
The United Front is not some harmless cultural exchange program.
A U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission report describes the United Front Work Department as the CCP agency responsible for coordinating influence operations intended to co-opt individuals, shape foreign opinion and advance Beijing’s political interests overseas.
In other words, the CCP allegedly was handing titles to the wife of one of the most powerful Republicans in Washington, and, for portions of that time, a sitting member of the United States Cabinet.
According to translations cited by the DCNF, Chao and her father, Foremost Group founder James S.C. Chao, were appointed honorary chairmen of the third council of the Jiading branch of the China Overseas Friendship Association in December 2008.
At the time, Chao was still serving as America’s Labor secretary.
The China Overseas Friendship Association has been identified as part of Beijing’s United Front system, which uses relationship-building, cultural programs and elite networks to advance the Communist Party’s objectives.
Chinese reports later identified Chao and her father as advisers to the organization’s fourth council, which reportedly operated from 2012 through 2017. That period partially overlapped with Chao’s opening months as President Trump’s Transportation secretary.
Chao was also reportedly named an adviser and committee member of the fifth council of the Jiading branch of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese. That appointment allegedly ran from September 2012 through 2017—again overlapping with the beginning of her Transportation Department tenure.
The DCNF also reported that a CCP official appointed Chao as an international adviser to the Wuhan municipal government in October 2009.
Chinese state media claimed the appointment was based on Chao’s international experience and her perceived ability to help Wuhan attract overseas talent and improve its foreign relations.
The reports did not state whether any of the positions were paid.
Perhaps even more troubling is what apparently did not appear in Chao’s paperwork when she returned to the Cabinet under President Trump.
In her publicly available 2017 Senate confirmation questionnaire, Chao was asked to list advisory, consultative, honorary or part-time government positions held during the previous ten years.
Her answer was: “None.”
The questionnaire also required Chao to list positions and memberships held with outside businesses, institutions and organizations. The reported Chinese appointments do not appear on the disclosed lists.
Chao’s spokesman, Patrick O’Connor, strongly denied the allegations in a statement to DCNF.
“She has never held a position with a foreign government or acted on behalf of one,” O’Connor told the DCNF.
The spokesman argued that the titles may have been honorary recognitions bestowed during public events and said Chao was unaware of the Wuhan title, in part because she is not fluent in Chinese. He also accused the Daily Caller of applying a racist double standard by scrutinizing Chao’s interactions with Chinese officials.
However, according to the DCNF, contemporaneous Chinese reports did not merely describe Chao as receiving an award. The records reportedly described her as being hired, accepting appointment papers or holding specific advisory titles.
WATCH:
🚨WATCH: Mitch McConnell’s Wife Elaine Chao Held Appointments From Chinese Communist Party Organizations While Serving In Cabinet pic.twitter.com/v967tWNiEK
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 8, 2026
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