Democrat stalls Biden nominee over 'anti-Asian' bias for prosecuting alleged Chinese spy: Report

Democratic Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono is slow-walking a Biden judicial nominee over concerns his prosecution of an alleged Chinese spy reflected "anti-Asian" racism, a group of anonymous Senate aids told Fox News.

Casey Arrowood, whom President Joe Biden has nominated to become a U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, prosecuted University of Tennessee professor Anming Hu, who was receiving funds from NASA but allegedly did not disclose his status as a professor at the Beijing University of Technology, according to Fox News.

Federal law bars NASA from using federal funds on projects that collaborate with China or its universities. A judge acquitted Hu after the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict.

Though the case began as part of the Trump administration's "China Initiative," the Biden DOJ pursued the case after disbanding the wider initiative.

Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn told Fox News that Hirono was the chief barrier to the nomination's advancement while multiple unnamed Senate aides told the publication that the Hawaii Democrat hopes to slow the Senate Judiciary Committee's voting process until the nomination expires at the end of the current session of Congress.

Blackburn supports Arrowood's nomination and said he "has put his life on the line to protect and defend our country. It is a shame that some Senate Democrats now want to disqualify him for prosecuting a potential CCP spy at UT."

Should the nomination expire, Biden can opt to renominate Arrowood when the next session of Congress is sworn in.