Judicial Watch announced Tuesday it had obtained 47 pages of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) records through a FOIA lawsuit revealing that Gov. Tim Walz’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) prompted a counterintelligence probe involving both DHS and the FBI.
According to internal communications, officials concluded that “China is happy” with Walz’s selection as Kamala Harris’s running mate on the 2024 Democratic ticket and viewed him as someone they could influence in Washington.
The records were released in response to a March 2025 FOIA lawsuit seeking DHS communications and intelligence reports related to Walz. An email dated August 6, 2024, the day Walz was named the VP nominee, shows DHS officials discussing CCP influence operations targeting U.S. governors, specifically Walz and Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo. One redacted official wrote, “You all have no idea how this feeds into what PRC has been doing here with him and local gov. It’s seriously a line of the intel. Target someone who is perceived they can get to DC.”
Officials cited raw intelligence, NGO links with prior CCP contacts, and coordination with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI’s Counterintelligence Task Force (CITF). An August 7 Microsoft Teams post included a BBC article highlighting Walz’s 1989 teaching stint in Guangdong Province—drawing attention on Chinese social media for its timing with the Tiananmen Square massacre. The article trended on Weibo with 12 million views.
A DHS participant in the group chat bluntly stated, “China is happy,” referring to Walz’s nomination. Others noted the conversation was likely subject to FOIA and discussed the implications of CITF coordination, special access programs (SAPs), and FBI jurisdiction in counterintelligence work. One official remarked, “This has more of strategic impact than obviously the general public knows.”
Separately, a September 12, 2024, internal thread raised questions about Chang Wang, a Minnesota attorney and adjunct professor, who feared he would be detained during an upcoming trip to China. Wang, vice chair of the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, requested a meeting with Walz, citing concerns about retaliation tied to a congressional investigation into the governor’s China ties. DHS officials speculated whether Wang’s situation qualified as transnational repression (TNR), and one noted Wang may have been pressured by Chinese authorities while in the U.S.
The communications suggest federal officials viewed the Walz-CCP connection as an ongoing counterintelligence concern. On October 29, 2024, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer confirmed that a DHS whistleblower identified Walz as a CCP “target” in intelligence briefings.
Read the Walz records
Read the Judicial Watch Press Release
