Comer subpoenas DHS for memos whistleblowers say contain info about Tim Walz’s China connections

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer on Monday subpoenaed the Department of Homeland Security seeking records related to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s China connections after whistleblowers raised concerns. 

Comer says his committee learned from the whistleblowers there is “serious concern” among DHS personnel “regarding a longstanding connection between the CCP and Minnesota Governor Timothy James Walz,” according to the subpoena cover letter sent Monday.

Walz is now the Democratic vice presidential nominee.

Comer’s committee has led a probe into the China’s efforts to infiltrate the United States, finding one method favored by the Communist Party is influencing subnational leaders, which include officials like state governors and legislators. 

“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,” Comer wrote. 

“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,” he continued. 

You can read the cover letter and subpoena below: 

According to the letter, the Oversight Committee learned of two sources that contain information about Walz’s connections to China, which first garnered public scrutiny when he was picked as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate. 

Walz has a history with China dating back to his stint as an English teacher in 1989 just months after the Chinese government cracked down on pro-democracy protestors in the Tiananmen Square massacre. 

By the 1990s, Walz began organizing regular trips to China for his high school students and even took his honeymoon in the communist country when he married his wife in 1994. 

According to the whistleblowers, DHS personnel memorialized concerns about Walz’s connections in a Microsoft Teams group chat and several intelligence reports. 

“Specifically, through whistleblower disclosures, the Committee has learned of a non-classified, Microsoft Teams group chat among DHS employees – titled ‘NST NFT Bi-Weekly Sync’ – that contains information about Governor Walz that is relevant to the Committee’s investigation,” Comer wrote. “The Committee has also learned that further relevant information regarding Governor Walz has been memorialized in both classified and unclassified documents in the control of DHS.”