The hits on Democrat vice presidential candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz just keep piling up. A lot of those hits have to do with his National Guard service – more specifically, his lying and exaggerating about his National Guard service. But now we see a security risk of another sort arising, namely, that Tim Walz was a lecturer on international relations at a state-run university in Communist China. The NY Post reported exclusively, on Tuesday and Wednesday, on some of the damning details.
He must have felt right at home.
Tim Walz lectured on international relations at a state-run university in China and made dozens of trips to the Communist country — many of them now under scrutiny a week after he was chosen as the Democratic vice presidential candidate.
US Congressman Jim Banks of Indiana is demanding the Pentagon investigate whether the Minnesota governor complied with foreign travel reporting requirements “for his security clearance during his many trips,” some of which took place while he was a senior ranking member of his state’s Army National Guard.
In a letter to the Pentagon Tuesday, Republican Banks called the situation “an obvious security risk.”
If that statement from Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) isn’t the understatement of the month, it will sure do until a better one comes along.
Walz was a visiting fellow at the CCP-sanctioned Macau Polytechnic University until at least 2007, according to public filings and press reports. The school was established in 1981 and subscribes to the vision of China’s Belt and Road Initiative — a massive infrastructure program that is the cornerstone of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s aggressive pursuit of influence overseas.
Does this seem a bit sketchy for someone currently running for the position of Vice President of the United States? A guy who, if elected, would be one heartbeat away from the most powerful job on the planet? One heartbeat away from nuclear launch authority? One heartbeat away from being Commander in Chief of the U.S. armed forces?
Of course, it’s not like he was offered a plum job on the board of a Ukrainian oil company or anything like that.
See Related: Bonus Cartoon: Blue Falcon Tim – REPORTING FOR DUTY!
An Open Letter From a Combat Veteran to Governor Tim Walz
Banks wants to know just what is going on, and we can scarcely blame him.
Rep. Jim Banks is demanding answers from the Pentagon about the “obvious security risk” Democratic vice presidential pick Tim Walz posed to the US due to at least a dozen trips he took to China while serving in the National Guard, according to a letter exclusively obtained by The Post.
Banks (R-Ind.) wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday asking about the “risks of hostile foreign intelligence activity” the Minnesota governor faced, since Walz “almost certainly” had a security clearance as a senior-ranking Guardsman when traveling to China between 1989 and 2005.
“Any individual traveling dozens of times to an adversary nation in a personal capacity while having access to classified information poses an obvious security risk,” the Indiana Republican said.
Reportedly, Walz has made over 30 trips to Communist China. Why?
Granted, just having traveled to China in and of itself isn’t indicative. I’ve been there myself. (It stinks. Literally.) But Walz has been there over 30 times. He took a gig as a guest lecturer in a state-run university – that means, a university run by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP.) This university is a key player in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. One of Walz’s earlier trips took place during the 1989 student uprisings that led to the Tiananmen Square massacre, about which Walz has been strangely quiet.
United States military members, regardless of active/reserve status, are required to report and be debriefed on any such trips to a potentially hostile nation. As of this writing, there is no evidence that Walz ever did so.
One more interesting indicator: Tim Walz is, perhaps unwittingly, channeling his inner Bernie Sanders. The daffy old Bolshevik from Vermont honeymooned in the Soviet Union. Walz and his wife, it seems, did so in Communist China.
There could be serious national security questions around this guy’s relationship with the Chinese Communist Party. These are questions that should – no, must – be answered before the election.
