Trump shocker! Who
is Elaine Chao?
McConnell's wife tapped for transportation secretary has
deep ties to China, Bloomberg, Heritage Foundation coup
President-elect Donald Trump picked former Labor
Secretary Elaine Chao for transportation secretary (Photo: Twitter)
WASHINGTON – Elaine Chao is
not exactly the kind of Cabinet pick you would expect from outsider Donald
Trump.
The Bush administration retread has deep ties to the
anti-coal Bloomberg
Foundation, is married to big-time Trans-Pacific Partnership
supporter and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and has deep business and
political links to China.
And that’s just the beginning of her resume.
As WND reported, when President George W. Bush nominated
her to be his labor secretary, Chinese dissidents like Hongda “Harry” Wu were
shocked.
“I worry about Elaine Chao’s business relationship with
communist China,” he said in 2001. “This woman has a significant shipping
business through her father.”
James S.C. Chao is the founder of New York-based Foremost
Maritime Corp., which ships goods to China and also buys ships from the China
State Shipbuilding Corporation. Chao’s ties to former Chinese President Jiang
Zemin run deep. The two were classmates at Jiao Tong University in Shanghai and
have kept in touch ever since.
In 1994, for instance, James Chao, along with Elaine Chao
and her husband, GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell, visited mainland China and met with
Jiang. James Chao, along with his daughter, returned to China the next year to
take an honorary professorship and presidency at the Shanghai Maritime College.
When Jiang visited the White House in 1997, he met privately for about 20
minutes with Elaine Chao, along with McConnell, before an elaborate state
dinner for Jiang hosted by President Clinton. The Kentucky senator met again
with Jiang the next morning.
“He was trying to emphasize that the U.S. and China are
natural friends, and their futures are intertwined, and that they should try to
understand each other,” Elaine Chao said in describing her talk with Jiang.
She has lobbied for normalized trade with China and has
downplayed concerns about China’s growing military threat, espionage campaigns
in the U.S. and human rights abuses.
Wu, a Hoover Institution fellow, criticizes Chao for
glossing over the fact that China is still run by communist hard-liners who
pump proceeds from U.S. trade back into military front companies run by a
privileged class. A prominent human-rights activist, Wu spent about two decades
in Chinese prisons for his political views.
“I’m very surprised Bush would pick her to head labor,
especially when most of the profits from trade with China goes into the pockets
of socialist leaders, not workers,” Wu said.
Both Chao and McConnell, however, serve on the board of
the China Foundation, a nonprofit charity devoted to helping develop rural
parts of China.
McConnell has been China’s biggest Republic booster in
the Senate. Chao sought out John Huang to help raise money for Republican
senators in 1989 – beating Bill and Hillary Clinton to the punch in 1992. In
1993, Huang, then head of Lippo Bank, rounded up a coalition of Chinese banks
and individuals to sponsor Chao’s visit to Los Angeles as the new head of
United Way. Huang gave McConnell $2,000 in illegal donations as part of a
foreign money-laundering scheme — one of only two contributions Huang made to
Republicans.
Chao criticized the prosecution of Huang in the Chinagate
scandal as racially motivated.
But there’s much, much more.
When she served the conservative Heritage Foundation as
Asian studies adviser, a military analyst who sounded warnings about Chinese
threats to U.S. security was shown the door, WND reported at the time. Chao served at
Heritage beginning in 1996 before leaving to become Bush’s labor secretary in
2001. While at Heritage, the think tank opened an office in Hong Kong.
Some reports by the ousted Heritage analyst – 16-year veteran Richard Fisher Jr. – were footnoted in the declassified version of the bipartisan Cox Report, which documented Chinese espionage at U.S. defense labs, while warning of China’s goal of modernizing the People’s Liberation Army to project power past the mainland’s waters, targeting U.S. allies like Taiwan and even the U.S.
Some reports by the ousted Heritage analyst – 16-year
veteran Richard Fisher Jr. – were footnoted in the declassified version of the
bipartisan Cox Report, which documented Chinese espionage at U.S. defense labs,
while warning of China’s goal of modernizing the People’s Liberation Army to
project power past the mainland’s waters, targeting U.S. allies like Taiwan and
even the U.S.
“Elaine Chao was part of the deal that got Rick Fisher
fired from Heritage,” a congressional aide who worked with him on China matters
told WND. “She pushed him out not because of free-trade issues, but because he
raised national security concerns over China.”
A Heritage insider agreed: “She was not supportive of any
of his writings on the Chinese military.”
One of her patrons was Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, a
pro-China lobbyist whose insurance company does business in China. During a
Heritage debate over normalizing trade with China, Greenberg protested a
Heritage paper by analyst Stephen J. Yates. It suggested Congress postpone the
vote on the trade bill to consider adding national security measures, such as
tightening controls on exports with military applications.
After Greenberg threatened to cut off funding, Heritage
issued a new report: “How Trade with China Benefits Americans,” which was
co-authored by Fisher’s replacement, Larry M. Wortzel, at the Asian Studies
Center. The May 5, 2000, report buried concerns about China’s defense buildup
and its hunger for military-related exports.
Greenberg, chairman and chief executive of New York-based
American
International Group, gave Heritage $180,000 in 1998 and at least
$100,000 a year for more than a decade through his Starr Foundation.
Leadership at Heritage has completely turned over in the
years since Chao left.
Greenberg and AIG, through its employee PAC, also have
donated thousands of dollars to Chao’s husband, Sen. Mitch McConnell, federal
records show. AIG and McConnell have been major boosters of cozier trade
relations with China – something that would seem to be anathema to Trump.
Together with five other corporate giants, the $26
billion-in-sales AIG formed the Business Coalition for U.S.-China Trade to help
spin the press on the benefits of open trade with China.
AIG, with offices in Shanghai, is a major client of Henry A.
Kissinger, who has gotten rich as a paid consultant for U.S.
companies seeking greater access to China.
“Hank Greenberg is Kissinger’s money bags,” said the Hill
aide, who asked not to be named.
McConnell and Greenberg also appear to be close.
The senator has given paid speeches for AIG, and he has
stepped in on its behalf in federal disputes.
In 1987, for example, McConnell tried to spare AIG from
having to pay claims on the $200 million policy it underwrote for the U.S.
Embassy in Moscow. The bugged building had to be rebuilt.
Like Chao, Greenberg was one of the “Bush Pioneers,”
responsible for raising more than $100,000 for the president-elect’s campaign.
Bush’s father, one-time U.S. ambassador to China, took the insurance magnate
along with him on his ’92 trade mission to Asia.
Does anyone even remember Chinagate? WND reported back in 2001 that a review of
financial assets held by Chao and her husband, McConnell, reveals she has
served as a director of an insurance company that jointly owns a Lippo Group
subsidiary with the Chinese government. Indonesia-based Lippo is controlled by
the Riady family and was at the center of the Clinton Chinagate fundraising
scandal.
Lippo chief executive James T. Riady agreed to plead
guilty to a felony charge of defrauding the U.S. government by funneling
donations to the campaign of Bill Clinton – and others.
Senate financial-disclosure records show that Chao held a
seat on the board of Protective Life Corp., which owns 50 percent of CRC
Protective Life Insurance. Lippo co-owns the rest of the Hong Kong-based unit
with China Resources Holdings Co., an intelligence-gathering front company for
China’s People’s Liberation Army.
Speaking of foreign trade, remember the TransPacific
Partnership, or TPP, and all the Trump campaign promises about killing it?
While Trump swept to power by denouncing TPP, McConnell
announced in 2015 that he would surrender Congress’ ability to amend the
agreement and permit the Obama administration to work out the details. TPP
became so unpopular during the 2016 election that even Hillary Clinton had to
come out against it.
The sweeping secretly negotiated agreement, by some
accounts, would have affected everything
Americans eat, every drug they take and every BTU of energy they use.
“A wag would be forgiven for saying the TransPacific
Partnership describes the majority leader’s marriage to Elaine Chao,” wrote
anti-TPP activist Curtis Ellis, a WND columnist. “The former Chinese Communist
Party boss Jiang Zemin is a close family friend of Elaine Chao’s, and Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao has praised her father for building up China’s industry.
(Shipping to and from China is the Chao family business.) Lest we forget, Jiang
Zemin is the hardliner who took power following the Tienanmen Square massacre
and is notorious for repressing religious minorities and Tibetans. Jiang’s been
indicted for genocide and is fighting to hold on to his corrupt fiefdom in
Shanghai. Some friend.”
So what has Chao been up to more recently?
Chao served on the board of directors of Bloomberg
Philanthropies, the foundation started by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
another anti-Trumper who flirted with the notion of running a third-party
candidacy against him. Bloomberg gives the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign
$50 million a year. The objective? To end the country’s reliance on “dirty
coal, plant-by-plant, community-by-community, state-by-state.” Trump promised
to put the coal miners back to work.
Chao has also served on the board of Wells Fargo, which
has bankrolled anti-coal efforts. Ironic since McConnell’s home state is
Kentucky – coal country.
Chao was selected by Bush to head the Labor Department
after his first choice, Linda Chavez, withdrew from consideration over charges
she harbored an illegal alien in 1992. Chao, 63, a Taiwanese immigrant, has
also served as chairwoman of the Federal Maritime Commission. She became
director of the Peace Corps in 1991 and led the United Way of America from
1992-1996.
One thing is for certain: She won’t have any trouble
getting Senate confirmation. Even her husband says he won’t abstain from voting
for her.
Elaine Chao
Elaine
L. Chao is a board member for the American
Action Forum, a director at the Bloomberg
Family Foundation, a fellow at the Hudson
Institute (think tank), and married to Addison
M. McConnell.
Note: Frederic V. Malek
is the chairman for the American Action
Forum, and a trustee at the Aspen
Institute (think tank).
Robert K. Steel
was a board member for the American
Action Forum, and is the chairman for the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Aspen Institute (think tank),
and the Hudson Institute (think tank),
the Harlem Children's Zone, and the Robin Hood Foundation.
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and a
benefactor at the Harlem Children's Zone.
Henry A. Kissinger was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen
Institute (think tank), is a trustee at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (think tank), the
founder of Kissinger Associates, Inc.,
a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), a friend
of Brent Scowcroft, a friend of Michael R. Bloomberg, and a 2008 Bilderberg
conference participant (think tank).
Center
for Strategic and International Studies (think tank) was a funder for China.
Maurice R.
Greenberg is a trustee at the Center
for Strategic and International Studies (think tank), a director at the National Committee on United States-China
Relations, an honorary chairman for the United States-China Policy Foundation, a director at the U.S.-China Business Council, was the chairman
& CEO for the American International
Group, Inc. (AIG), and a
benefactor for the Harlem Children's
Zone.
Brent Scowcroft
is a trustee at the Center for Strategic
and International Studies (think tank), a friend of Henry A. Kissinger, and was a vice chairman for Kissinger Associates, Inc.
J. Stapleton Roy
was a U.S. ambassador for China, and
a vice chairman for Kissinger Associates,
Inc.
Michael R.
Bloomberg is a friend of Henry A.
Kissinger, the founder of the Independence
USA PAC, a co-chair for the Mayors
Against Illegal Guns, the founder of Everytown
for Gun Safety, the founder of the Bloomberg
Family Foundation, was a contributor for the Americans for Responsible Solutions, a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone, and a donor for the Robin
Hood Foundation.
Independence
USA PAC is a “Gun Safety, Gun Control” PAC for guns.
Mayors
Against Illegal Guns is a “Gun
Safety, Gun Control” group for guns.
Everytown
for Gun Safety is a “Gun Safety,
Gun Control” group for guns.
Americans
for Responsible Solutions is a “Gun
Safety, Gun Control” PAC for guns.
Bloomberg
Family Foundation was a funder for the Aspen
Institute (think tank).
Frederic V. Malek
is a trustee at the Aspen Institute
(think tank), and the chairman for the American
Action Forum.
Robert K. Steel is
the chairman for the Aspen Institute
(think tank), and was a board member for the American Action Forum.
Elaine
L. Chao is a board member for the American
Action Forum, a director at the Bloomberg
Family Foundation, a fellow at the Hudson
Institute (think tank), and married to Addison
M. McConnell.
Bloomberg
Family Foundation was a funder for the Aspen
Institute (think tank).
Michael R.
Bloomberg is the founder of the Bloomberg
Family Foundation, a friend of Henry
A. Kissinger, the founder of the Independence
USA PAC, a co-chair for the Mayors
Against Illegal Guns, the founder of Everytown
for Gun Safety, was a contributor for the Americans for Responsible Solutions, a donor for the Robin Hood Foundation, and a benefactor
for the Harlem Children's Zone.
George Soros
was a benefactor at the Harlem
Children's Zone.
Maurice R.
Greenberg was a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone, the chairman & CEO for the American International Group, Inc.
(AIG), is a trustee at the Center
for Strategic and International Studies (think tank), a director at the National Committee on United States-China
Relations, an honorary chairman for the United States-China Policy Foundation, and a director at the U.S.-China Business Council.
