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Former Senior Advisor to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Mary Kissel, told the GOP Oversight Committee on Wednesday that the Trump administration “woke up America” to the threat the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) poses to the U.S.
During a hearing led by House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, Kissel appeared before the lawmakers to discuss the political warfare from the CCP, as well as China’s effort to “infiltrate key sectors within the U.S.”
“This is a threat to all Americans, Republican, Democrat or otherwise. The good news is that the Trump administration, as I said previously, woke up America and the world to the threat, and we started to take actions across a number of fronts. President Trump, of course, was the first one to identify the fact that China was cheating on trade that they were violating our intellectual property. We took action on that,” Kissel said.
The former senior advisor continued to state that the department also exposed China’s treatment of the Uyghurs and probed China’s infamous connection to the World Health Organization (WHO) during COVID-19.
Many lawmakers have grown weary of China’s expansion and the potential effects on the U.S. military, technology, finance, and intellectual property.
The hearing comes as some have grown weary of China buying up U.S. farmland, with Republican North Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem warning about the move from the country, according to Politico.
“This hearing is a part of our government-wide investigation into CCP political warfare and the witnesses appearing next week will assist the Committee’s ongoing efforts to ensure federal agencies are prepared to counter CCP political warfare,” Comer said in a statement.
