News/Commentary

China problems for one senator on Kamala’s VP shortlist, hush money problems for another

August 2, 2024 | | Print Article

The top two contenders to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ own VP going into the 2024 presidential race have some big problems.

First up is Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who polls have shown would grant Harris the best chance of defeating former President Donald Trump come November.

(Video Credit: Fox News)

According to the Associated Press, Shapiro paid veritable hush money to silence a former employee who claimed she’d been sexually harassed by one of his senior aides. The hush money was paid through a settlement reached in September of last year.

The settlement stemmed “from allegations made by the woman against Mike Vereb, who served as Shapiro’s secretary of legislative affairs until his resignation last month,” the AP reported in October of 2023.

“The woman, who started in her role around when Shapiro took office in January, wrote in a complaint earlier this year that Vereb made lewd and misogynistic remarks and that she was retaliated against when she spoke up,” the AP’s stunning report continued.

But it gets even worse for Shapiro. The Philadelphia Inquirer notes that he “has largely avoided discussing Vereb in the year since, describing his departure as a private personnel matter while maintaining [he, the governor] ‘takes allegations of discrimination and harassment seriously.'”

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But his critics don’t buy it, including even some on his own side of the aisle. Take Erin McClelland, the Democrat nominee for state treasurer in November’s election:

Even the way Shapiro announced Vereb’s resignation was suspect.

“A news release from Shapiro’s administration announcing Vereb’s resignation … made no mention of the sexual harassment claim and did not include any direct statement from the governor,” according to the Inquirer. “Instead, it featured remarks from Shapiro’s chief of staff, Dana Fritz, who described Vereb as ‘a key member of our team.'”

Not a good look.

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Sen. Mark Kelly, the second top contender to be Harris’ VP, also has some big problems on his belt: He used to promote a Chinese pyramid scheme involving pills.

“In 2015, former astronaut Mark Kelly rode a motorcycle onto a stage in China, with an American flag on one handlebar and the flag of the People’s Republic of China on the other,” according to the Washington Post.

“After dismounting, he told the audience before him how terrific Shaklee vitamins were, and how he took Shaklee Vitalizer on the space shuttle Endeavour in 2011, an out-of-this-world event honored on the Shaklee Facebook page,” the Post reports.

Watch some of that below:

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He then encouraged others to sign up to start their own Shaklee business.

“It is up to all of you to take those tools that Shaklee and [CEO] Roger [Barnett] has given you, and turn it into something big!” he said. “Each and every one of you can create your own successful Shaklee business, and it is the rewards from that business that will help you achieve your own dreams!”

Financial disclosures reportedly show that he earned $50,000 for promoting Shaklee in 2011 alone.

But it gets worse.

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As previously reported, Kelly also co-founded a company that makes high-altitude spy balloons using funds from Chinese investors.

“Tucson-based World View, cofounded by now-U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly in 2012, received venture capital from Tencent — among the largest tech companies in China — both in 2013 and 2016,” according to Axios. “Tencent, like most Chinese tech giants, has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.”

Vivek Saxena
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