House GOP investigating John Kerry's secret China negotiations

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are investigating private discussions that White House climate czar John Kerry held with Chinese Communist Party officials.

In a Thursday letter, committee chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., informed Kerry of the investigation and renewed requests for documents and materials connected to his activities as the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC), according to Fox News. Comer made similar requests while Republicans were the minority in the lower chamber, but Kerry ignored them.

While in his current post, Kerry has held a number of private discussions with Beijing officials about the administration's ambitious climate agenda. The details of those conversations and the origins of the administration's seemingly lenient stances on Beijing-related environmental issues are of interest to Comer.

"The Committee requests documents and information to understand your role and provide necessary transparency over the SPEC and its activities," the Kentucky lawmaker wrote. "As a member of the President’s cabinet, you should be representing the United States’ interests. Your statements, however, consistently show disregard for American national security and taxpayer dollars."

"To date, you have failed to respond to any of our requests... Yet, you continue to engage in activities that could undermine our economic health, skirt congressional authority, and threaten foreign policy under the guise of climate advocacy," he added.

Comer's letter to Kerry is but one of many such document requests House Republicans have sent in recent weeks. Under Comer's leadership, the Oversight Committee is mounting a bevy of investigations into the Biden administration, including an inquiry into the Biden family's private business dealings and the president's alleged mishandling of classified documents.

Kerry took up his post as SPEC in 2021. He previously served as former President Barack Obama's second secretary of state and unsuccessfully challenged former President George W. Bush for the nation's top job in 2004.