Vice President Kamala Harris is accused of receiving campaign funds from Chinese auto executives with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that were originally sent to President Joe Biden's campaign before being withdrawn. It's been criticized.
Driving Force Action PAC stakeholders I wrote To Harris on October 11th:
We are senior executives of BYD, a Chinese electric vehicle company with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party and a company identified as a national security threat equivalent to the Chinese Communist Party, and are Chinese nationals. We are deeply concerned about the $50,000 political contribution your campaign allegedly received from Stella Ke Lee. With Huawei.
BYD is said to be a company that benefits from significant support from the Chinese government through direct subsidies and military-civil fusion initiatives. As detailed in various reports, BYD is collaborating with military companies on important projects such as aggregating data from vehicles and sharing technology with state-owned enterprises. moreover, Ke Li, who made these contributions, appears to be married to BYD founder Wang Chuanfu, a prominent Chinese Communist Party member. [Emphasis added]
Receipt of political contributions from corporate executives with such ties to the Chinese Communist Party raises serious ethical and national security concernsespecially given your camp's previous stance on reducing dependence on foreign adversaries in critical industries like electric vehicles. You have recently expressed support for American manufacturing and concerns about China's dominance in the electric vehicle market, but accepting donations from BYD seems to contradict those statements. [Emphasis added]
“Given these concerns, Driving Force Action demands that your campaign return Ms. Lee's $50,000 donation and publicly sever its financial ties to BYD. ” The letter continues. “We believe this action is necessary to demonstrate your commitment to protecting American jobs, protecting national security, and maintaining campaign transparency.” [Emphasis added]
Driving Force Action is primarily funded by the Specialty Equipment Market Association and opposes electric vehicle (EV) mandates like those enacted by the Biden-Harris administration.
The campaign donations were first reported by Thomas Catenacci of the Washington Free Beacon, who said: “BYD Americas will receive $395,000 in late 2022 under the administration's Clean School Buses Program, led by Harris and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan,” the EPA document reads. shows. ” Catenacci wrote. “According to the EPA, the funds were disbursed in May 2023, six months before Mr. Lee donated to the Biden-Harris campaign.”
free beacon reported:
Afterwards, Mr. Ke Li, the president of BYD Americas, donated $25,000 to the Biden Victory Fund (now Harris Victory Fund) and $18,400 to the Democratic National Committee, but the funds were allocated to the Biden Victory Fund. As an individual, he donated up to $6,600 to the Biden campaign (now the Harris campaign).according to an FEC filing reviewed by the Free Beacon. Mr. Lee made each donation on the same day, November 14, 2023. President Joe Biden's $96 million campaign fund was transferred to Harris' campaign in July after Biden withdrew from the presidential race. [Emphasis added]
BYD's most recent annual report identifies Mr. Li as a Chinese national. Other company documents say she is a Chinese national with “rights of residence” in the United States. Federal law prohibits foreign nationals from donating to political campaigns, but there are exceptions for individuals with green cards. [Emphasis added]
Driving Force Action PAC is currently running ads in the key battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ohio, demanding that Harris return her campaign funds.
In August, Harris' campaign claimed she “does not support an electric vehicle mandate.” This claim comes after Harris has long supported such EV mandates.
Breitbart News has detailed information about Harris' Green New Deal proposal starting in 2020, which would eliminate the sale of gasoline-powered cars by 2035 and allow Americans to buy only EVs when looking for a new car. mentioned.
“[W]”Ensuring that 50 percent of all new passenger vehicles sold by 2030 are zero-emissions and 100 percent by 2035,” Harris' agenda at the time said. Similarly, Harris said she wanted to require “all new buses to be zero-emissions by 2030.”
As vice president, Harris supports Biden's EV mandate, which would require the majority of new cars produced and sold in the U.S. market to be electric or hybrid by 2032.
Both EV mandates risk eliminating millions of auto jobs in the United States. As experts point out, EVs require far less labor to produce than traditional gasoline cars.
Former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), said they would eliminate the Biden-Harris EV mandate.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
