(Daily Caller News Foundation) Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta, the brother of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign chairman John Podesta, received $500,000 from a blacklisted Chinese tech giant to lobby the White House from July through September, records show.
The Chinese tech company, Huawei, paid Tony Podesta to lobby the White House on “issues related to telecommunication services and impacted trade issues,” according to a lobbying disclosure form filed Wednesday, CNBC reported.
Former President Donald Trump placed Huawei on a trade blacklist in May 2019. Additionally, the Federal Communications Commission designated Huawei a national security threat in 2020 due to its “close ties to the Chinese Communist Party and China’s military apparatus,” Fox Business reported. The Justice Department also charged Huawei with 13 counts of fraud in January 2019 and conspiracy to steal trade secrets in February 2020.
Huawei hired Tony Podesta in July to help curry favor for the company with President Joe Biden’s administration, according to Politico.
The White House defended the federal government’s trade restrictions against Huawei in a statement to CNBC.
“President Biden and this administration believe digital infrastructure equipment made by untrustworthy vendors, like Huawei, pose a threat to the security of the U.S., our allies, and our partners. Export controls against Huawei remain in place,” a White House official told the outlet.
