After Axios reported on Tuesday that a Chinese spy had been romantically involved with Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Georgia Democrat Senate candidate Jon Ossoff is coming under fire after allegedly hiding his own ties to a pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) media company.
Georgia GOP officials had filed a complaint accusing Ossoff of knowingly failing to disclose payments from a pro-CCP media company, PCCW Media Limited, in his May 2020 campaign financial disclosure. Ossoff amended the filing in July to reflect receiving the payments.
The spy at the center of the Swalwell scandal, Fang Fang, reportedly worked for China by targeting up-and-coming politicians expected to make it big on the national stage. And Jon Ossoff certainly fits that mold, as conservative writer Erick Erickson points out.
"Jon Ossoff rose to fame as an 'up-and-coming local politician' who ran in a special election in Georgia," Erickson recalls. "He claimed he had an intelligence clearance and was in the know, having worked for members of Congress. Hollywood money flowed in and he became a media darling. Though Ossoff lost, he had so much money still in his coffers, the media constantly talked about his future.
But then, Erickson notes a funny thing happened: "Ossoff started receiving money from an anti-democracy media company in China. The money flowed through Ossoff’s 'documentary film' company that supposedly made documentaries about government corruption."
The anti-democracy media company based in Hong Kong was stridently opposed to Hong Kong's freedom movement and turned out to have strong ties to the CCP.
"In fact, earlier this year, Ossoff refused to even disclose his financial ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and only after Republican Senator David Perdue kept raising the issue did Ossoff amend his financial filings," notes Erickson.
An Ossoff campaign aide dismissed concerns over Ossoff's ties to a pro-CCP organization, calling the complaint an "audacious attempt to distract voters."
But in light of the CCP's infiltration of Eric Swalwell's inner circle, Republicans say Ossoff's previous work for a pro-CCP company and Ossoff's own dismissive attitude toward such transparency makes him a prime target for China's spy efforts.
This is how it starts," said National Republican Senatorial Committee Deputy Press Secretary Paige Lindgren. "Ossoff’s and his team’s dismissive nature toward transparency when it comes to work with foreign governments demonstrates a stunning degree of naivete. We know Ossoff lacks the experience to understand the threat of foreign actors trying to gain influence over elected officials, and clearly it has trickled down to top members of his campaign team."
Jon Ossoff and incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue are set to face off in the Georgia general runoff election on Jan. 5.