Trump's DOJ Declined To Investigate Moscow Mitch's Bridge To China

Elaine Chao / Moscow Mitch's Bridge To China


Elaine Chao's father came from a wealthy family in China w political connections to the ruling KMT party; during China's civil war ~ 1949 , the KMT was defated / overthrown by Mao's CCP. Like other well-connected KMT members, he was able to flee China to the island province of Taiwan which was protected by the US government.

Elaine Chao was born in Taiwan and, at age 8, she immigrated to upstate NY.

As the PRC was emerging from decades of turmoil in 1984, the Chao family, supposedly anti-communists, took a stake in a PRC-owned Chinese manufacturer of marine electronic equipment, documents show. The company targeted sales to China’s military, among other sectors, and was closely affiliated with a ministry run by a Mr. Jiang. After Mr. Jiang came to lead the Communist Party a few years later, Mr. Chao met with him at least six times, including in August 1989 in Beijing — inside the party’s secretive leadership compound. Chao family members said they could not recall this investment.

Foremost Group, the New York-based shipping company founded by Elaine Chao's father in 1964, landed its first big contract with the United States government, shipping rice to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.

Now, it builds most of its ships in state-owned shipyards in China, with some financed by Chinese government loans. In at least two instances, those Chinese-backed, Chinese-built ships entered long-term contracts to deliver iron ore for a state-owned steel maker.

More than 70 % of Foremost’s freight goes to China, and most of that is iron ore, according to recent shipping data. The cargo helps feed China’s industrial machine, which manufactures steel products that are a point of dispute in the deepening trade war between China and the United States. The company describes itself as a small international business and says it does not have a particular focus on China, beyond what most dry bulk carriers have in a world dominated by Chinese manufacturing.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/02/us/politics/transportation-secretary-elaine-chao.html




In her time as Trump's transportation secretary, Elaine Chao repeatedly used her position and agency staff to help family members who run a shipping business with ties to China, in potential violation of federal ethics laws, according to an Office of Inspector General report.

during one of her visits to the PRC, as the Transportation Secretary, Chao had requested the
diplomats stationed in the US embassy in China to set up appointments for her family members to
meet w China's state officials. The diplomats balked at this request; this may have led to complaints to the IG​

The report included allegations that Chao directed staff to research or purchase personal items for her online using her personal credit card or performed other personal errands for her or her father.

The report focused largely on Chao’s actions related to her family’s shipping business, the Foremost Group, which was founded by her father and whose current chief executive is her sister.

 

The IG report confirmed Chao made extensive plans to include family members in events during a planned, but later canceled, official trip to China in November 2017 that included intended stops at schools that received support from her family’s business.

The report also said Chao had tasked political appointees to contact Homeland Security (DHS) officials on behalf of a foreign student who was the recipient of Chao family philanthropy.

The report also found DOT staff “provided various media and public affairs support” to Chao’s father in 2017 and 2018, including facilitating the booking of a private Amtrak car for Chao’s father and guests to travel from New York to Washington for a DOT event.

In December during the final weeks of the Trump administration,

the inspector general’s office referred its findings to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia for criminal prosecution,
which declined to open a criminal investigation, as did the Justice Department’s Public Integrity section.​

The inspector general’s report added prosecutors said “there may be ethical and/or administrative issues to address but there is not predication to open a criminal investigation.”

The report said the inspector general’s “preliminary review revealed other potential misuses of position that warranted additional review.”

House Transportation and Infrastructure chairman Peter DeFazio, a Democrat who sought the probe in 2019 said he was “disappointed that the Department of Justice declined to further pursue the matters that the IG’s office substantiated in its investigation.”

 

Ellaine Chao took an oath to become a civil servant of the US.

she cancelled that oath, and replaced it w loyalty to her family's wealth