Walz was questioned whether or not he was an ‘agent for China’ throughout Harris’ VP vetting course of – One America Information Community

[ad_1] <img decoding="async" width="800" height="534" src="https://www.oann.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/FOR-WEBSITE-ARTICLES-2026-01-20T173906.227.png" alt="" class="wp-image-755535" srcset="https://www.oann.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/FOR-WEBSITE-ARTICLES-2026-01-20T173906.227.png 800w, https://www.oann.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/FOR-WEBSITE-ARTICLES-2026-01-20T173906.227-400x267.png 400w, https://www.oann.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/FOR-WEBSITE-ARTICLES-2026-01-20T173906.227-768x513.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"/> (Background) Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her vice presidential working mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on October 28, 2024. (Picture by DREW ANGERER/AFP by way of Getty Pictures) / (Middle) Minnesota Governor and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz on October 22, 2024. (Picture by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)

OAN Workers Brooke Mallory6:29 PM – Tuesday, January 20, 2026

A sequence of latest disclosures has supplied a glimpse into the unusual vetting course of behind the 2024 Democrat vice-presidential choice.

In line with a CNN report, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D-Minn.) was particularly requested by then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ crew whether or not he had ever served as an agent for the Chinese language communist authorities.

This follows related revelations from Governor Josh Shapiro (D-Penn.), who detailed in his 2025 memoir being questioned about potential standing as a overseas agent for Israel, given his pro-Zionist views and Jewish heritage. As the primary Jewish governor of Pennsylvania, Shapiro admitted to being stunned and barely offended by the question.

In the meantime, the scrutiny relating to Walz reportedly stems from his in depth historical past with China, which spans over three a long time.

In 1989, instantly following the Tiananmen Sq. protests, Walz traveled to Foshan within the Guangdong province. He was a part of the primary group of American educators despatched to the area by WorldTeach, a non-profit program then affiliated with Harvard College’s Institute for Worldwide Improvement.

Upon his return to america, he and his spouse, Gwen, additionally established Instructional Journey Adventures, a personal firm that organized annual summer time journeys to China for American highschool college students. These frequent excursions, totaling roughly 30 journeys, grew to become a focus for investigators and Republican opponents alike.

Whereas Walz has described these efforts as cultural change packages designed to foster world citizenship, the sheer quantity of his journey and his previous reward for the Chinese language individuals’s hospitality offered the premise for the “overseas affect” inquiries throughout his rise to the nationwide stage.

The journeys to China additionally grew to become a focus for Republicans in the course of the marketing campaign for apparent causes associated to nationwide safety.

President Donald Trump and Republican officers have regularly characterised Walz as “dangerously sympathetic” to the pursuits of the Chinese language Communist Occasion (CCP), arguing that his in depth historical past and professed admiration of the nation would compromise his capacity to place American pursuits first.

Congressional Inquiries: These criticisms and issues had been culminated in formal letters from Republican management demanding entry to Walz’s journey information and communications, describing his previous work as a possible nationwide safety vulnerability.

The “Manchurian Candidate”: When referencing Walz, opponents have regularly invoked the “Manchurian candidate” trope, a reference to the Chilly Struggle-era thriller, to recommend that Walz’s time in China had left him prone to ideological grooming or clandestine affect.

Give attention to State Funding: Critics, together with members of the Home Oversight Committee, pointed to Walz’s previous reward for the Chinese language academic system and his position in organizing journeys that had been, in some cases, partially sponsored by the Chinese language authorities as proof of a perceived battle of curiosity.

Nonetheless, Walz’s workplace argues that he has been totally clear about his travels, and the vetting course of in the end concluded that his historical past posed no safety threat.