Gov. Tim Walz’s (D-MN) reported romantic fling with the daughter of a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official while traveling in China as a member of the United States military raises national security concerns, according to military veterans and security experts.
The Daily Mail reported Monday that Walz, while teaching English in China in 1989, had a sexual relationship with the daughter of a high-ranking Chinese Communist Party member, and kept in contact with her after he returned home.
WATCH — Axelrod: “Walz Has Had an Interesting Relationship with China”:
If true, it would mean that he had this relationship while he was serving as a member of the U.S. armed forces — a big problem from a national security standpoint.
Members of the U.S. government and military — particularly if they hold a security clearance — are warned to avoid romantic trysts with foreigners while traveling overseas, since it could lead to a situation where they are blackmailed for classified information or another kind of situation where U.S. national security could be put at risk.
In fact, members of the U.S. military are typically required to report travel to a hostile nation to their unit ahead of time. As Breitbart News reported:
Members of the United States military are typically required to report to or request permission from their command before traveling overseas — especially if they have a security clearance and they are traveling to a country hostile to U.S. interests, such as China.
This is because members of the U.S. military are enticing targets of foreign espionage and exploitation. When traveling to hostile countries, they will often receive a defensive briefing before they go, on what to watch out for. Upon returning, they are sometimes asked to provide a briefing of the trip on who they met with and if anything out of the ordinary happened.
Walz, at the time he taught English in China, had served in the military for eight years, having joined at 17 in 1981 and traveled to China at 25 in 1989.
Philip Reichert, a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst and former unit security manager, discussed with Breitbart News the concerns raised by Walz’s reported sexual relationship with the CCP official’s daughter while serving in the military:
Tim Walz’s affair raises both practical security concerns and ethical concerns. First, Tim certainly held a security clearance for his work with nuclear-capable howitzers, and clearance holders are required to report foreign contacts and relationships to their security office. An omission of this fact would guarantee investigation if discovered.
“Second, it is ethically concerning that Tim would enter into a romantic relationship with the daughter of a CCP official. His relationship presents a potential conflict of interest and a potential leverage point for CCP interest. Given the CCP’s decades-long active efforts to gather intelligence and cultivate relationships with those in sensitive positions, Tim’s decision reflects poor judgment,” he added.
A long-time security clearance expert who wanted to speak on background told Breitbart News that the report underscores open questions about if Walz ever reported his trips to the military.
The expert said there is a requirement to report foreign travel and foreign contacts on the government form known as SF-86, which the military uses when considering security clearances for applicants. Foreign contacts, especially those of a romantic nature, must be reported.
The expert speculated that Walz’s repeated trips to China may have been an issue in renewing his security clearance and may have led to his abrupt retirement from the military, although there is no evidence of that to date. The expert said the fact that the National Guard will not release information on how Walz retired and who approved it is “problematic.”
The expert also said the reported relationship also raised questions as to whether or not there is any potential for compromise, if, for example, there are photos of Walz and his Chinese lover that he does not want to be published, or any other material that could be used for blackmail purposes.
“This does beg the question of what else is out there,” the expert said.
The expert added that it is possible and even likely that the relationship was known to and being monitored by the CCP, since the Chinese government has historically engaged in monitoring of Westerners in China. The expert said at the least, they would have wanted to know what Walz was doing in China, as a member of the U.S. military. “That would raise eyebrows within the security apparatus there,” the expert said.
Overall, the expert said, this “raises a lot more questions.”
“I sort of look at this and think, ‘If there’s not more to this story, why aren’t we seeing more documentation surrounding his military retirement?’” the expert said. “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who is a top China hawk in the Senate, posted on X:
If the story in @DailyMail is true Tim Walz had a relationship with the daughter of a high ranking Chinese Communist Party official and remained in contact with her for years after
If you aspire to be Vice-President of the United States, voters deserve to know everything about any and every link you have to the CCP
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) told the Daily Mail on Tuesday:
Governor Tim Walz’s documented relationships with Chinese Communist Party affiliated entities and officials bears hallmarks of a CCP infiltration and influence campaign.
The Oversight Committee is investigating Governor Walz’s involvement with Chinese entities and officials that may have allowed the CCP to influence his decision-making as a congressman and governor, and potentially would allow the CCP to influence the White House should he be elected vice president.
The committee — who is investigating Walz’s ties to the CCP — released on Tuesday internal Department of Homeland Security communications where officials had discussed the CCP’s targeting of Walz as part of an influence campaign, leaked by a whistleblower.
The internal message by a DHS official said:
Walz’s got the Vp [nomination]. You all have no idea how this feeds into what [People’s Republic of China] has been doing here with him and local [government]. It’s seriously a line of the intel. Target someone who is perceived they can get to DC.
Comer said in a letter sent to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday that he released the communications due to the agency not cooperating with a subpoena for records from his committee:
The Committee is releasing the above message as an example of communications within DHS’s possession in which DHS officials express concern about the CCP targeting politicians and their influence operations at the state and local levels—and specifically, concerns about the CCP’s influence operations as they relate to Governor Walz.
Comer added that the whistleblower has provided further information that indicates officials from DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis and Homeland Security Investigations “has been involved in the department’s investigative and/or intelligence work connected with the CCP, the state of Minnesota, and Governor Walz.”
The National Guard has refused to disclose — even though it is not classified information — whether Walz ever held a security clearance and when, but a retired National Guard senior non-commissioned officer who spoke to Breitbart News on an anonymous basis said that “99 percent” of staff sergeants, or E-6s, in the Army National Guard will have at least an interim security clearance, and thus be required to report such trips to hostile countries.
Walz reportedly traveled annually to China between 1993 and 2003, and was a master sergeant, or E-8, by 2004 — meaning that the year before, in 2003, he would have spent at least some time in China as an E-6 or above. He and his wife Gwen Walz had run a business bringing high school students to China during the summer for cultural exchanges, beginning in 1994 up through 2003. Walz has said in local media reports that a friend in the government helped him arrange it, with funding from the Chinese government.
The National Guard has also stayed silent on whether Walz ever reported his numerous trips to China to the National Guard, or sought permission for them ahead of time. The circumstances of Walz’s retirement is still unclear. Walz, who was running for Congress — which he was allowed to do as a reservist — released a statement in March 2005 saying that he would deploy to Iraq in the upcoming months, but then abruptly retired in May 2005, breaking his then-military contract early.
Walz has claimed he did so to focus on his run for Congress, although veterans who served with him say his retirement so shortly before the deployment was unusual and that he had gone around his direct commander to get it approved.
Walz has been caught in numerous lies about his military service and his travel to China. He has lied about retiring as a command sergeant major, when he actually retired at a rank below, at master sergeant. He lied about “carrying weapons of war, in war” when he has never deployed to a war zone. He has also lied about being eligible to retire the week of 9/11 but instead re-enlisting, when actually his then-contract was not up until 2002. He has also lied about being in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square Massacre in June 1989, when he was actually in Nebraska at the time.
He and his campaign have given various reasons for his lies, including that he “misspoke,” is a “knucklehead,” speaks “passionately” or is not good with “grammar.”
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