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House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer has subpoenaed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for information on allegations of a connection between Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Let’s bring you up to speed: The allegations regarding Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s potential connection to the CCP stem from whistleblower disclosures within the DHS, raising concerns about Walz’s past interactions with China. These concerns center around Walz’s extensive travel to China, including a year he spent teaching there in 1989 and multiple trips leading educational field excursions. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer has pointed to internal DHS communications, specifically a Microsoft Teams chat titled “NST NFT Bi-Weekly Sync,” as containing relevant information about Walz’s alleged ties to the CCP. Though the details of the allegations remain vague, Comer suggests that the committee is investigating whether Walz may have been a witting or unwitting participant in CCP influence efforts aimed at infiltrating US political figures.

What Comer is seeking: Comer is seeking both classified and unclassified documents, as well as communications from a Microsoft Teams chat within DHS, related to Walz’s potential ties to China. The subpoena comes ahead of the vice-presidential debate and sets a deadline of October 7 for DHS to produce the requested materials.

Comer denies the move is political: In his letter to Mayorkas, Chairman Comer sought to address concerns raised by democrats that his actions were poltiically driven. Comer wrote, “The Committee’s investigation of the CCP — begun long before Governor Walz was elevated to be the vice-presidential candidate for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris — seeks to understand the extent of the CCP’s infiltration and influence campaign and to identify legislative reforms to combat CCP political warfare targeting prominent Americans for elite capture.”  

He continued, “In particular, if a state governor and major political party’s nominee for Vice President of the United States has been a witting or unwitting participant in the CCP’s efforts to weaken our nation, this would strongly suggest that there are alarming weaknesses in the federal government’s effort to defend the United States from the CCP’s political warfare that must be urgently addressed.”

Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign has not commented on the subpoena.