During the 2022 midterm elections, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and several of her colleagues, including one Republican, paid advertising costs to a Chinese newspaper that the Department of Justice classifies as a \u201cforeign agent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The newspaper, Sing Tao U.S., is a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based Sing Tao News Corporation Ltd, and in 2021 it was forced to register as a \u201cforeign agent.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even after it registered as a \u201cforeign agent,\u201d Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Kevin Mullin, Grace Meng, and Nicole Malliotakis (the Republican) paid for its services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOcasio-Cortez\u2019s campaign dropped nearly $1,500 on advertisements with Sing Tao Newspapers during the midterm election cycle after it had registered as a foreign agent, while Reps. Mullin, Meng, and Malliotakis paid between $1,000 and $7,000 to various Sing Tao entities as part of their campaign advertising expenses,\u201d\u00a0Fox News<\/a>\u00a0has confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To be fair, Sing Tao U.S. has disputed its status as a \u201cforeign agent,\u201d though the Department of Justice clearly disagrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSing Tao disputes its status as a foreign agent, but according to filings this week under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the DOJ determined the newspaper\u2019s U.S. operations qualified as foreign influence efforts,\u201d\u00a0Axios<\/a>\u00a0reported back when the company registered as a \u201cforeign agent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, the company has claimed to be privately owned and thus not under the influence of the Chinese Communist Party. Of course, this is little comfort given the party\u2019s known attempts to control the flow of all information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The aforementioned members of Congress aren\u2019t the only ones linked to Sing Tao. So is California Gov. Gavin Newsom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Epoch Times notes that \u201cseveral prominent elected officials in California sent Sing Tao US video greetings during its 83rd anniversary gala in early August [2021].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDuring the banquet, multiple prominent politicians and elected officials, along with the Consul General of the San Francisco Chinese Consulate and the California governor, praised the company and staff. Sing Tao also invited a choir to sing \u2018red songs,\u2019 which promote the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),\u201d according to the outlet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The gala can be seen below, with Newsom making his grand entrance around the 2:25 mark:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The paper is evidently very pro-Beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIts owners are members of the Chinese People\u2019s Political Consultative Conference, a government advisory group controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. One of the owners, Charles Ho, last year defended a national security law that has been used to arrest pro-democracy journalists in Hong Kong,\u201d the Washington Free Beacon notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It wasn\u2019t always this way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKeep in mind, 30 to 40 years ago, Sing Tao newspaper was a completely different newspaper than what Sing Tao is today. During the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, Sing Tao was very much pro-democracy, supporting the student movement on Tiananmen Square, and criticizing the bloody massacre done by the Chinese communist regime in Beijing,\u201d according to China expert Nathan Su.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But that was then, and this is now. And for some reason, the likes of Ocasio-Cortez, Newsom, and Malliotakis didn\u2019t seem to care when forking over advertising cash. Though in Malliotakis\u2019 defense, she was a freshman congresswoman at the time she made her payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As for Ocasio-Cortez, now a veteran lawmaker, this is one of many financial scandals she\u2019s been involved with. She last violated federal campaign finance disclosure rules in August by not filing her paperwork in time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOcasio-Cortez was due to report her 2021 finances to the House Ethics Committee 11 days ago on Aug. 13. However, the public remains in the dark as to the status of Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s finances as of Wednesday morning,\u201d the Washington Examiner reported at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[A] spokeswoman for the New York lawmaker said Ocasio-Cortez feels no rush to file her disclosure as required by federal law because she can wait another 20 days before risking a fine,\u201d the Examiner added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n AOC in no rush after violating congressional financial disclosure rules; suspected reason quite rich https:\/\/t.co\/XbPmk385G0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n