This clown is dirty.
'Biden-Harris Pentagon Stonewalling Congress, Media on Tim Wazl's
Frequent China Travel'

<https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/09/01/biden-harris-pentagon-stonewalling-congress-media-tim-walzs-frequent-china-travel/>

'The Biden-Harris Pentagon is refusing to answer questions from Congress
and the media on Democrat vice-presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz’s
(D-MN) frequent travel to China — which poses risks for members of the
military and raises questions of whether or not Walz reported these
trips to the Army National Guard while he was serving.

Members of the United States military are typically required to report
to or request permission from their command before traveling overseas —
especially if they have a security clearance and they are traveling to a
country hostile to U.S. interests, such as China.

This is because members of the U.S. military are enticing targets of
foreign espionage and exploitation. When traveling to hostile countries,
they will often receive a defensive briefing before they go, on what to
watch out for. Upon returning, they are sometimes asked to provide a
briefing of the trip on who they met with and if anything out of the
ordinary happened.

Walz has bragged about visiting China about 30 times. Many of those
trips were taken when he was an Army National Guard member.

It is not clear if or how often Walz reported his travels to China to
his command, requested permission to go, or if he had a security
clearance — and the Pentagon is not providing answers.

House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee Chairman Jim Banks
(R-IN) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the acting
chief of the National Guard Army Lt. Gen. Jonathan Stubbs on August 13,
requesting that information.

Two days later, a Pentagon spokesperson, on August 15, told the South
China Morning Post that Austin would respond to Banks “in due course.”
Now, more than two weeks later, the Pentagon has still not responded,
according to a Banks aide.

Banks said in an exclusive statement to Breitbart News on Thursday:

The Biden-Harris DOD is once again putting politics ahead of our
national security. Tim Walz is bought and paid for by the Chinese
Communist Party and doesn’t belong anywhere near the White House.

Breitbart News also asked the Minnesota National Guard deputy of public
affairs on August 22 if Walz had ever requested permission to visit
China or had a security clearance during his time in the National Guard,
with a deadline of August 28. As of August 30, there has been no
response.

Breitbart News also reached out to Walz’s spokesman, Teddy Tschann, with
questions but did not receive a response by deadline.

A retired senior non-commissioned officer with the Army National Guard
told Breitbart News that “99 percent” of staff sergeants, or E-6s, in
the Army National Guard will have at least an interim security
clearance, and thus be required to report such trips. Walz traveled
annually to China between 1993 and 2003, and was at least a master
sergeant, or E-8, by 2004. That means he would have spent at least some
years in China as an E-6 or above.

The retired NCO said that when Walz was conditionally promoted to
sergeant major, or E-9, in 2004, he would have needed to update his
SF-86 — which is a government form used for background checks and to
obtain security clearances — to attend the Sergeant Majors Academy.
Reports suggest that Walz began the Sergeant Majors Academy but did not
complete it, instead choosing to cut his military contract short and
retire in 2005.

“Even back then, every trip on your passport needs to be listed on the
SF-86,” said the retired NCO, who suggested that not being able to get a
security clearance could have played a role in Walz’s sudden retirement
from the military.

Walz had reportedly committed to serve until 2007, but retired in May
2005, just two months after he said his unit was possibly deploying to
Iraq and promising to go. He claimed he retired so he could focus on his
run for Congress, despite members of the National Guard being able to
run for office while serving.

Security experts agree Walz’s frequent trips to China would have
triggered concerns in the military.

Walz joined the National Guard in 1981, when he was 17. Walz first went
to China in December 1989 when he was 25, as part of a program teaching
English. He spent a year there, and traveled the country afterwards.
With the help of a “friend” in the Chinese government, Walz returned in
1993, bringing high school students with him. He told a local newspaper
that he received permission and funding from the Chinese government.

After getting married in 1994, he brought his wife to China for their
honeymoon, along with 60 students for two trips to China. Some students
received “scholarships” from Walz, his wife, and the Chinese government.
He and his wife would start a for-profit small business bringing
American students for trips to China, every year until 2003.

Sean Bigley, security clearance expert and current professor at Chapman
University, said the fact that he received funding from China for these
trips is highly problematic and would be disqualifying for someone
seeking a security clearance.

“That’s almost a non-starter for a security clearance. That’s almost a
guaranteed denial, because they say, ‘Well what are you expected to do
in return for that money?'” Bigley said in an interview with Breitbart
News.

“The Chinese government doesn’t just give money to give money. There’s
an expectation that comes with that,” he said. “Those deals don’t happen
without some sort of expectation of future cooperation on some level, or
at least a willingness to engage.”

Bigley, a former Bush administration official, said even back in the
early 2000s, travel to China — when U.S.-China relations were less
hostile — would still be problematic.

“I can almost guarantee that even back then, that would have raised
eyebrows, like, ‘Wait, what — you’re getting paid by the Chinese
government?” he said.

“Even back then, there’s tremendous risk involved when we’re talking
about a hostile foreign country,” he said. “You have to assume you’re
being tracked and monitored. The issue and the risk is typically the
potential to be placed in scenarios that open you up to blackmail.”

Bigley said China could have also gathered basic intelligence on Walz’s
networks. “You know, who does this person know? What are their
connections to different people? It allows foreign intelligence services
to build out a picture of who this person is that could potentially be
exploited in unforeseen ways down the road,” he said.

Bigley said it is a key question whether Walz had a security clearance
at the time of his travels, and noted that the answer would not be
classified.

John Schindler, a former senior intelligence analyst and
counterintelligence officer with the National Security Agency, said
Walz’s travel to China and government funding would certainly not have
happened without the approval of the Chinese Ministry of State Security,
the regime’s powerful secret police.

“Here’s the thing: You don’t get to go back to China 30 times on
educational exchanges unless you have the approval of the Communist
Party and the secret police. That’s just how communist countries work,”
he told Breitbart News in an interview.

Schindler wrote in a recent Washington Examiner piece:

Put simply, the Chinese communists aren’t running a holiday charity for
American tourists. For those communists, nothing comes without a quid
pro quo.

…
Three decades ago, a young American with an affection for China, who was
also a part-time member of the U.S. military, would have been a tempting
recruiting target for Chinese intelligence. Given that Beijing’s spies
represent the greatest espionage threat to the United States today, this
isn’t any merely academic query.

Moreover, we’re coming off four years of a Democratic president
possessing odd, unexplained ties to Beijing, including millions of
dollars given to his son by Chinese intelligence. Do we really want
someone who may be even more compromised by China in the White House?

Schindler agreed with Bigley that “there is no way that an applicant
with 30-plus visits to Communist China would get a security clearance.
“That’s not going to happen… . And that would be a show stopper. But
apparently not to be the vice president,” he said.

A look at local news articles at the time reveal other alarming details
in Walz’s history with China.

Walz was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square crackdown on June 4,
1989, when Chinese officials brutally massacred students protesting for
democracy. Walz said he opted to go into China that December, despite
other teachers having reservations because believed it was more
important than ever to go and show his support for the Chinese people.

However, after returning, he gushed about his time there. In a September
18, 1990, Scottsbluff Star-Herald article, he said, “No matter how long
I live, I’ll never be treated that well again.” He added, “They gave me
more gifts than I could bring home. It was an excellent experience.” He
also said, “I was treated exceptionally well. There was no
anti-Americanism whatsoever,” and said there was “almost no crime.”