Governor Newsom in Hong Kong on 10/23/2023 (Photo: Gov.ca.gov)
Gavin in China: Visits BYD Electric Car Maker – Company He Awarded $1.4B Mask Contracts
Newsom’s China trip and visit to BYD kind of feels as if he is rubbing our faces in it
By Katy Grimes, October 24, 2023 8:04 am
Governor Newsom’s China trip itinerary includes stops in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai. While Newsom claims the trip is a “climate-focused tour” with visits to a wind farm and Tesla’s new Chinese gigafactory, critics au contraire – Newsom is ignoring important issues with China, such as industrial espionage and human rights violations.
Others contended that the trip is a way for Newsom to gain valuable international experience for a future run for higher office, the Globe reported.
Perhaps the standout moment of his China visit was when Newsom was filmed behind the wheel of the Build Your Dreams (BYD) Company’s newest electric vehicle – while a California Fox News Anchor traveling with Newsom never apparently puts 2 and 2 together.
Well, well. @GavinNewsom gets behind the wheel of@BYDCompany’s newest vehicle & checks out the self turning mode. Hmmm.
Wasn't it @BYDCompany Newsom purchased $1 Billion of masks from Chinese company BYD at outset of COVID pandemic using taxpayers funds? Oh yes, it was.… https://t.co/tX9LRGF6i8— Katy Grimes (@KATYSaccitizen) October 24, 2023
If BYD rings a bell, you’ll recall that Newsom purchased $1 Billion of masks from Chinese company BYD at outset of COVID pandemic using taxpayers funds? Oh yes, it was. #corruption – electric vehicle company creates mask division at outset of Covid.
And he even went back for more masks, spending another $315 million dollars. The Globe reported on it. RedState reported on it. Even some in California’s mainstream media reported on it. There were some unhappy Democrat members of the California Legislature who wanted Newsom’s unauthorized investigated and audited, but they quieted down after one demand letter to the Governor.
And then POOF – the media lost interest. Well, the mainstream media did.
Newsom’s current China trip and visit to BYD kind of feels as if he is rubbing our faces in it.
Despite mainstream media pivoting to the next shiny object, the Globe continued to dig. The Governor’s BYD $1.4 billion contract looked like well-connected insider trading. Here’s what we found:
The Build Your Dreams company, BYD, is based in Shenzen, China. The electric bus manufacturer has a California subsidiary in Lancaster, where it employs 1,000 people.
California Globe has uncovered a trail of well-connected players in the odd $1.4 billion mask deal which seems to lead up to the cabinet level inside the governor’s office.
The prominent lobbyist who represents BYD is Mark Weideman of The Weideman Group. The governor’s campaign received $40,000 from BYD’s automotive division.
Weideman also represents Bloom Energy, a fuel cell manufacturer in San Jose, which recently retooled its facility to rehabilitate ventilators for COVID-19 patients.
Weideman also represents NextGen America, owned by Tom Steyer, Newsom’s economic recovery committee chairman whose failed presidential campaign petered out in late February.
California Globe called and emailed Weideman to ask about the BYD contract. A phone call placed to his office at 1:07 pm May 19, 2020 did not receive a response. A follow-up email sent to Weideman via his company website May 25th also did not receive a response.
Mark Weideman’s wife is Jennifer Wada, an attorney who now has a government relations business – Wada Government Relations Group. It is not common knowledge even among Sacramento insiders that Wada and Weideman are married.
Wada previously was a partner in Wada, Williams Law Group. Her former law partner is Anthony Williams, who is now Gov. Newsom’s Legislative Affairs Secretary, although news reports from 2018 also called Williams Newsom’s “chief lobbyist.”
Anthony Williams was a senior adviser for former Democratic state Senate leaders John Burton and Darrell Steinberg, and lobbied for the Judicial Counsel of California and the State Bar.
A source said the governor was able to pivot so quickly from the bad Blue Flame Medical deal to BYD because of the connections between Weideman, Wada and Williams.
In the email California Globe sent, we asked Weidemen about these close connections, and if the deal came together because of Weideman, Wada and Williams.
“Newsom and his aides singled out BYD-America, which manufactures electric buses in Lancaster and has been a beneficiary of California’s efforts to combat climate change,” CalMatters reported April 8, 2020. “Mark Ghilarducci, Newsom’s director of the Office of Emergency Services, said BYD has a direct reachback into China to be able to build a sustainable amount of monthly masks that will be coming in to assist us.’”
BYD America is a subsidiary of BYD China.
As for “Gov Newsom and his aides singled out BYD-America…” Anthony Williams is one of Newsom’s top level aides, as this organizational chart of the governor’s office shows (Williams is at the far right, below First Partner Jennifer Newsom’s staff).
Not one of these people were held accountable, nor did the media jump on this information and demand answers.
RedState published an article today about this as well, also dissatisfied.
When Gov. Newsom made the deals in 2020 to purchase $1 Billion worth of masks from BYD, he claimed it was “to combat a growing need for masks in California and to secure them before other states and countries sign similar deals,” California Globe reported.
The question still is “Why did he really make this deal?”
By August 2020, it appeared Gov. Gavin Newsom’s controversial $1.4 Billion deal for masks with Chinese BYD, an electric bus maker now manufacturing N95 masks, was coming back to bite him in the behind.
The governor’s “chief Lobbyist” and Legislative Secretary, Anthony Williams announced his resignation Thursday, along with his deputy cabinet secretary Dan Seeman. CalMatters Tweeted about this odd high-level staff departure, and reported they were told by the Newsom administration to hold off on reporting it, then deleted their Tweet.
Next, the Legislature cancelled the August 11, 2020 hearing of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, abandoning all efforts highlight the spending of billions of taxpayer dollars on personal protective equipment with companies like China-owned BYD and Blue Flame.
Katy Grimes quote: “Newsom’s current China trip and visit to BYD kind of feels as if he is rubbing our faces in it.”
“Kind of?” Love the rhetorical understatement, it made me laugh. Because it seems as though Gruesome’s favorite hobby is to “rub our faces” in EVERY SINGLE THING he does that hurts California and us. Of course he always waits a bit after the first blow, for that extra-unexpected-torture touch. This is so bad and in our faces that now you have me wondering what kind of a sadist outfit he wears when he hangs out at his local BDSM gathering. Oh, but wait —- he doesn’t need to stir himself to go there because he’s constantly working that stuff out on us.
Did that 2020 records request ever come through, by the way? Didn’t think so.
As a commenter said in April, 2020, when this unbelievably nervy BYD malfeasance first came to light at the Globe:
“If this had not come from you, Katy, I may not have believed it.”
ONE BILLION DOLLARS!
Reminder that comes from us the taxpayer.
Funny isn’t it (not) that when you follow a sleazy politician’s actions and bad decisions all you have to do is follow the money and it starts to make sense.
Now let’s see if any of those BYD city busses that other states have sent back due to serious issues will end up here in the state of California. Just what California needs Chinese manufactured municipal busses that stall out on hills!
In Newsolini’s greasy head the trip is a success. Mission accomplished.
Oh it’s even better than that, Cali Girl… City of L.A. spent millions and millions on BYD electric buses and continued to contract with BYD after it was well-established the buses had so many problems they couldn’t be used at all. See here – from the L.A. Times, yet!
“Stalls, stops, and breakdowns – problems plague push for electric buses” (May 2018)
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-electric-buses-20180520-story.html
Also I could have sworn —- and maybe I learned it way back when from another source — that the buses were not only besieged with the big problems listed in the LA Times article that made them unusable but also caught fire when in use or when going uphill. And last we heard they were still sitting in an L.A. City yard, inoperative, gathering dust, and taking up space.
The corrupt plot just keeps thickening and thickening doesn’t it.
Uugh!
Was not aware that LA had made that purchase so long ago. What a complete waste!
I bet somewhere in these deals is 10 percent for the “Hair Guy”!
Also, could this all be tied back to the CCP backed Silicon Valley Bank and Sequoia Venture Capital crooks?
Is Gavin protecting assets?
Kickbacks and such? Wouldn’t doubt it, CG. 10% for the Hair Guy, no kidding, ha 🙂
Newsom is greasing his pockets and lining up the favors like Joe has been doing. I wonder if Gavin has his children in LLC’s with oversea bank accounts.
Well his wife has that production company and I believe his sister runs their PlumpJack winery.
Many opportunities to move money around including multiple properties.
Katy, I love your in depth articles. Great research and reporting!
I remember this mask deal when it first came out. The whole thing stunk to high heaven. It’s just another example of how corrupt and incompetent Newsom is.
Also now there is data coming out that the Chinese N95 masks expose wearers to dangerous levels of toxic chemicals. $1 billion of dangerous masks purchased by Newsom. Another Newsom failure.
It’s not a bug, it’s a FEATURE…
Much like the security exploits described on the CA SOS website on the electronic voting systems purchased by Padilla….
Not smart to flaunt it when you are on the take. Then again Noisome has never ever been described as smart.
True, CW. Newsom can’t help himself; he thinks he is God. Of course to us he is more like the horned netherworld guy who thinks he can do anything he wants and no one will catch on because literally everyone else (except for him) is a chump and an idiot. As you know.
Thanks for laying out this web of deceit and corruption in black and white and perpetuity Katy
This information needs to be available NATIONWIDE, in an effort to notify the American public that this narcissistic a-hole that has Presidential aspirations is as bought and paid for by the CCP and its industrial complex, as the current pResident is…
Thanks for keeping the BYD Newsom illegal investment story alive with updates. The DOJ should be ransacking his home and office like they did Leland Yee who committed far lesser crimes after being followed for 5 years or CPUC president Peevey who had ratepayers pay for his criminal defense yet never heard of him being convicted. 1.4 billion masks for 40 million people sounds like money laundering to hide Newsom’s investment then forcing electric vehicles on constituents to inflate his investment. This is the largest billion dollar theft of taxpayer money by a government official I’ve heard of and the DOJ and FBI aren’t confiscating Newsom’s records or indicting him yet.
How much money is being laundered from the Chinese government through these Chinese subsidiaries to Newsom’s non campaign for president?
Also, it was not mentioned that his visit to Hong Kong was an acknowledgement that all is forgiven by America for stamping out the freedom of British Hong Kong because as the Chinese say “We are big, and you are small”.
Californias corruption is now hidden in bits and bytes, Venmo, and CashApp, unlike “Shrimp scam” in the olden days. Too bad the FBI “doesn’t do that stuff any more”.
California is “Chicago with a view”.
This is what I call Green Fraud on Taxpayers. And leave it to Newsom to make things worse, and more expensive in the state on behalf of his “green” cult. https://tinyurl.com/3f5tr3kd
A visual on how politicians get so grossly wealthy. You would think ‘we the people’ would have enough. reform, reform, reform of the term limits, the election process, campaign financing, suspend personal investments while in public office and a serious reduction of retirement benefits once we ger rid of them. Maybe then we would not be faced with geriatric governing.
Meanwhile, https://tinyurl.com/mc78h8t6