{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://norman.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1477", "Rep. Ralph Norman Leads Letter Requesting the Dept. of Justice Investigate White House Advisor's Connection to the Chinese Communist Party", "2022-09-21", "2022", "2022-09", "Republican", "House", "SC", "Ralph Norman", "N000190", "norman.house.gov", "norman", "https://norman.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx?DocumentTypeID=27", "scraper", "On Wednesday, Rep. Ralph Norman (SC-05) led a letter requesting Attorney General Merrick Garland investigate the connection between John Podesta, President Biden\u2019s newly appointed White House Advisor for Clean Energy Innovation & Implementation, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).\n\nBackground\n\nJohn Podesta\u2019s appointment on September 2, 2022 came less than a week prior to the Biden Administration announcing a rollback of Trump-era restrictions on Huawei, a Chinese based telecommunication corporation.\n\nThe timing of Podesta's appointment calls into question the motive behind easing such restrictions. Huawei was previously sanctioned by the U.S. when the company was accused of using its software to access critical U.S. data and intelligence. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) previously determined Huawei\u2019s equipment was capable of compromising highly restricted military communications.\n\nPublic disclosure forms released in early 2022 revealed Huawei paid John Podesta\u2019s brother, Tony Podesta, a total of $1 Million in 2021 to lobby the Biden administration on its behalf.\n\nAdditionally, John Podesta sits on the board of the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), a non-governmental organization (NGO) that has funded Chinese propaganda at U.S. Universities.\n\nRep. Norman's letter requests the Department of Justice investigate John Podesta\u2019s connection to the CCP and provide necessary documents such as John Podesta\u2019s employment history, his signed pledge to the ethics code of his office, and documents that verify his brother Tony\u2019s compliance with lobbying rules.\n\nStatement\n\n\u201cJohn Podesta will oversee a budget of approximately $370 billion as he steps into his new role,\u201d said Rep. Ralph Norman. \u201cA connection between John Podesta, his brother Tony Podesta, and the Chinese Communist Party certainly raises eyebrows concerning our national security. It's important for the Department of Justice to ensure there's nothing nefarious about this activity by corroborating the relationships and timelines.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T03:08:33Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://norman.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1477"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3906159438192844, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}