Sens. Rick Scott, Mike Lee, Marsha Blackburn, Rep. Young Kim Demand Investigation into California’s Involvement with Beijing China

This is huge: U.S. Senators Rick Scott, Mike Lee, Marsha Blackburn, and U.S. Representative Young Kim sent a letter Wednesday to Attorney General Todd Blanche and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, calling for an investigation into the state of California’s numerous climate agreements with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). And they cite the California Globe’s reporting, along with numerous other news articles documenting the subversion between the State of California, regulatory agencies, the University of California (UC) system, and organs and entities of the People’s Republic of China (PRC or China) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

“If Governor Newsom would like to assume foreign affairs authorities constitutionally vested in the federal government, that option, however quixotic, ill-conceived, and downright laughable, is theoretically available to him. As it stands, however, he is likely violating the Constitution, serving as China’s useful pawn while destroying the pocketbooks of millions of hardworking Americans.”

“The Compact Clause of the Constitution gives the federal government authority over foreign affairs, and the Supreme Court has upheld that even state action with a mere “direct impact upon foreign relations”[1]may be unconstitutional.

“Dating back to former California Governor Jerry Brown, the state has an extensive history of circumventing Congressional approval and entering into agreements with CCP conduits, including:

• California China Climate Institute
  • Founded in 2019 by Governor Jerry Brown and the CCP’s longtime global climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, the goal was to shape U.S. and subnational climate policy and advance the goals of the Paris Agreement. The California China Climate Institute was codified into law by Governor Newsom.

• China-U.S. ZEV Policy Lab
  • Agreed upon by the University of California-Davis and the China Automotive Technology and Research Center, the China-U.S. ZEV Policy Lab committed both sides to speed the commercialization of electric cars.

Of particular note from their letter:

In 2013, then Governor Jerry Brown signed a memorandum of understanding with Xie Zhenhua, then head of China’s central planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the first agreement of its kind between the PRC and a U.S. state; this agreement committed California to joint work with Beijing on carbon reduction, emissions trading, and electric vehicles. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) signed its own memorandum with the NDRC that year, building on ties to the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau dating to 2005. CARB Chairwoman Mary Nichols personally attended the launch of China’s cap-and-trade pilot in Shenzhen, and CARB soon began co-leading a zero-emission vehicle “Policy Lab” with a PRC government automotive research center through UC Davis.

“In 2017, President Donald Trump lawfully announced the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement. Governor Brown’s response was to fly to Beijing.”

I covered the 2013 trip, and another of Gov. Jerry Brown’s trips to China:

On a trip to China to meet with the Communist dictator President Xi Jinping, California Governor Jerry Brown is signaling to the world his fidelity to the unratified and dubious Paris Climate treaty, in spite of President Donald Trump’s recent withdrawal from the pact. Brown should be investigated for colluding with a known foreign enemy upon his return to the United States–a federal republic of 50 states of which he is but one governor. It is unconstitutional for a state to supplant federal powers and act on its own when dealing with other nations. Brown’s latest trip to China to enter into a treaty as a sovereign nation is unconstitutional on several levels, and violates the Logan Act. However, the left is claiming that the agreement Brown signed with President Xi Jinping is “non-binding,” and therefore legal. “Non-binding?” How non-binding is it when it directly impacts the California taxpayers with exponentially higher energy costs, gas tax increases, and draconian regulations on the trucking industry, just to name a few of the implications?

They continue:

In 2021, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 39, codifying the California-China Climate Institute (CCCI) into state law and directing it, in partnership with Tsinghua University, to shape U.S. and subnational climate policy. The CCCI, housed at UC Berkeley, was initially launched in 2019 under the co-chairmanship of former Governor Brown and Xie Zhenhua, former head of China’s central planning agency, the NDRC, and the CCP’s longtime chief global climate envoy; Brown continues to lead the Institute today, with Nichols as Vice Chair. By its own account, the CCCI has helped integrate PRC experts into California’s regulatory agencies.

In 2023, the California Globe covered Newsom’s trip to China and reminded readers exactly who BYD was, and how the governor’s corrupt $1.4 billion mask deal went down.

While the mainstream media chased the next shiny object, the Globe kept digging. What we uncovered was a $1.4 billion contract that smelled like well-connected insider dealing at the highest levels of the governor’s office.

Here’s what we found:

BYD — “Build Your Dreams” — is a Chinese electric vehicle and battery giant headquartered in Shenzhen. The company operates a California subsidiary in Lancaster that employs roughly 1,000 people.

Our reporting exposed a web of influential players tied to the unusual mask contract, with connections reaching directly into Governor Newsom’s inner circle.

The prominent lobbyist representing BYD is Mark Weideman of The Weideman Group. Newsom’s campaign received $40,000 in contributions from BYD’s automotive division.

Weideman also lobbies for Bloom Energy, a San Jose fuel-cell manufacturer that retooled its operations to refurbish ventilators during the pandemic. He additionally represents NextGen America, owned by Tom Steyer — the same Tom Steyer who chaired Newsom’s economic recovery committee after his own failed presidential bid.

When the Globe contacted Weideman for comment, neither a phone call to his office on May 19, 2020, at 1:07 p.m., nor a follow-up email sent on May 25 received any response.

Adding another layer of insider access: Weideman’s wife, Jennifer Wada, runs her own government relations firm, Wada Government Relations Group. Few Sacramento insiders realize the two are married. Wada previously partnered in the law firm Wada Williams Law Group with Anthony Williams — the same Anthony Williams who now serves as Gov. Newsom’s Legislative Affairs Secretary and was once described in news reports as the governor’s “chief lobbyist.”

Newsom’s 2023 trip to China raised more questions than answers. The governor never clearly explained its purpose beyond setting up yet another round of sweetheart deals with Beijing.

The most memorable (and telling) moment came when Newsom was filmed behind the wheel of a sleek new BYD electric vehicle. A California Fox News anchor traveling with him apparently never connected the dots, we reported.

“For two decades, Governors Brown and Newsom have treated Beijing as a partner and the elected government of the United States as an obstacle… We cannot allow a rogue state government to place its regulators and flagship university in the service of a hostile power’s industrial strategy.”

The Globe is looking forward to this investigation, and the protection of America and the American people.