Tony Podesta has now earned $1 million lobbying Biden White House for blacklisted Chinese tech giant

Ailan Evans, DCNF

Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta has earned at least $1 million to lobby the White House on behalf of Huawei, a Chinese technology and telecommunications company blacklisted under the Trump administration.

Podesta, brother of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign chairman John Podesta, received $500,000 from Huawei to lobby the Executive Office of the President between October and December of 2021, according to lobbying disclosures filed late Thursday. Huawei first hired Podesta in July 2021 and paid the long-time Democrat operative $500,000 to lobby the White House from July to September 2021.

Podesta lobbied on “issues related to telecommunication services and impacted trade issues,” according to disclosure forms.

The Trump administration placed Huawei on a trade blacklist in May 2019 for allegedly building backdoors in its technology that could be used by China for economic espionage. The U.S. has also taken action to limit Huawei’s access to American semiconductors.

The Biden administration has not indicated it will lift trade restrictions on Huawei, telling CNBC in October 2021 that the company still posed a danger to national security.

“President Biden and this administration believe digital infrastructure equipment made by untrustworthy vendors, like Huawei, pose a threat to the security of the U.S., our allies, and our partners. Export controls against Huawei remain in place,” a White House official said.

The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment on last quarter’s lobbying.

Podesta may have received more money from Huawei than publicly revealed, according to Reuters, who reported in October that the Chinese tech giant paid Podesta $1 million in the third quarter of 2021, rather than $500,000 as stated in his disclosure forms.

Huawei also paid lobbying firm Imperium Global Advisors $90,000 to lobby Congress on “telecommunications and trade issues,” according to lobbying disclosure forms.

For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

BPR INSIDER COMMENTS

Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!

Latest Articles