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‘You should be representing the US’ interests’: John Kerry to be probed over questionable China ‘activities’

February 3, 2023 | | Print Article

With the House Republican majority now settling into its newfound power, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has no intention of squandering a second in his pursuit of protecting America’s interests against the Biden Administration.

Comer is already putting the pressure on President Joe Biden and his scandal-ridden son, Hunter, in his dogged probe into their potentially criminal business deals with China. Now the outspoken Kentuckian is setting his sights on Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC) John Kerry for his negotiations with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

“Despite not being confirmed by the Senate, Kerry is negotiating with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on deals that undermine the United States’ interests,” the Oversight Committee said in a Thursday press release. “Chairman Comer is calling on Kerry to provide all documents and information to understand his office’s activities, spending, and staffing.”

In a blistering letter to Kerry, Comer wrote, “The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating your role in the Biden Administration and the nature of your negotiations with the Chinese Communist Party.”

“In the 117th Congress, we requested information from you regarding your position as special presidential envoy for climate (SPEC)—a cabinet-level position that does not require Senate confirmation despite your apparent ability to bind the United States to international agreements —and SPEC employees’ ties to outside organizations,” Comer continued. “To date, you have failed to respond to any of our requests. Yet, you continue to engage in activities that could undermine our economic health, skirt congressional authority, and threaten foreign policy under the guise of climate advocacy.”

“The Committee requests documents and information to understand your role and provide necessary transparency over the SPEC and its activities,” he stated.

According to the Committee, Comer tried twice last Congress to obtain information on Kerry’s role in the Biden Administration, once in June 2021 and again in October 2022.

“The Biden Administration refused to respond to these requests even as Kerry continues to craft secret agreements with foreign governments,” Oversight writes. “In May 2022, Kerry told the Associated Press that he was in negotiations with the CCP to form a group to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He has also downplayed the CCP’s human rights violations and its antagonism against the U.S. while promoting climate negotiations that the CCP does not even appear interested in entering.”

“Most recently, at the World Economic Forums (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, you claimed that the solution to changing global temperatures is, ‘money, money, money, money, money, money, money,'” Comer wrote to Kerry.

“As a member of the President’s cabinet, you should be representing the United States’ interests,” Comer reminded Kerry. “Your statements, however, consistently show disregard for American national security and taxpayer dollars.”

Comer then laid into Kerry’s history of turning a blind and callous eye to China’s egregious human rights violations.

“You have also continued to downplay the CCP’s human rights violations and its antagonism against the U.S. while promoting climate negotiations that the CCP does not even appear interested in entering,” he wrote. “In April 2021, you insisted that CCP’s intransigence ‘on human rights, geostrategic interests… do not have to get in the way of something that is as critical as dealing with climate.’ You recently insisted that the CCP’s behavior should be decoupled from our attempts to enter into climate agreements, stating ‘I think the key is that this is not a bilateral issue and that we need to get back to the table because the world depends on it and it could be helpful to China’s efforts to protect its own population….'”

“Your office continues to ignore requests for information,” Comer charged. “We are left with an insufficient understanding of your office’s activities, spending, and staffing.”

He then gave Kerry a deadline of Feb. 16, 2023, to “provide the following documents and information” covering January 20, 2021, to the present:

1. All documents and communications regarding elements of the FY21, FY22, and FY23
budgets of the SPEC, including those discussed off the record;

2. A list of all individuals present at any discussions where elements of the FY21, FY22,
and FY23 budgets of the SPEC were discussed, whether on or off the record;

3. A full list, including names, titles, and salaries of all individuals currently and previously
employed by the office of the SPEC, as well as all ethics and financial disclosures of
those individuals;

4. All documents and communications between any individual or individuals within the
office of the SPEC and any third party, including but not limited to any environmental
advocacy group or foreign government official; and

5. All documents and communications regarding domestic and international travel of the
SPEC.

 

On Twitter, the Oversight Committee is being praised for its action.

“Right over the target,” tweeted Mike Howell, director of the Heritage Oversight Project.

“This is the most unethical and corrupt presidential administration in American history,” he stated. “They are essentially using cabinet secretaries as woke figureheads while the real power brokers hide behind claims of exec priv inside WH.”

https://twitter.com/MHowellTweets/status/1621357781243535360?s=20&t=NSzN1V0tfhHF6UznZ2dzBQ

 

Melissa Fine
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