House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) has dropped the hammer on former Attorney General Loretta Lynch after it emerged that the top Obama administration official has been lobbying for a Chinese Communist Party-linked military technology company.
Lynch has reportedly been using her Washington D.C. influence to lobby the Pentagon on behalf of a China-based firm known as DJI.
After discovering Lynch’s new gig, Stefanik issued a statement, saying:
“It is disgraceful but unsurprising that Barack Obama’s former Attorney General Loretta Lynch is now working on behalf of a Communist Chinese drone company that the Department of Defense has identified as a Chinese military company.
“Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch is lobbying the DOD to request they remove DJI from this list so the Communist Chinese company can operate with impunity in America.
“U.S. government officials, both past and present, should be working to ban these Communist Chinese spy drones and bolster the domestic drone industry, not advocating on behalf of a Chinese military company and the Chinese Communist Party.”
Lynch, who served under former President Barack Obama, is now a partner at law firm Paul, Weiss.
According to her webpage on the company site, Lynch specializes in congressional investigations and national security, among other issues.
Stefanik’s comments come after a report earlier this week raised concerns about Lynch’s lobbying efforts.
The report warns that Lynch could be leveraging her government connections to aid a Chinese government-linked company.
Reuters reported that she wrote a letter to the Pentagon last summer on behalf of one of her clients, SZ DJI Technology Co..
In the letter, Lynch asks for the CCP-linked firm to be removed from the DOD’s list of Chinese military companies.
The Pentagon has yet to respond to confirm the reports.
The report noted that it’s legal for lawyers to advocate for foreign clients without mandatory public disclosure of their work.
DJI is one of the largest producers of military drones in the world.
The U.S. Treasury placed investment restrictions on it in December 2021.
The federal agency accused it and seven other companies of actively supporting surveillance and repression efforts against Uyghurs.
Meanwhile, in Congress, a House GOP-led effort could restrict DJI’s activity in the U.S. even further.
Stefanik and House China select Committee Chair Mike Gallagher (R-WI) are leading a bill called the Countering CCP Drones Act.
the bill would ban DJI from operating on U.S. communications infrastructure.
