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‘Deep ties to the CCP’: Meet the vaping lobbyist ramping up pressure on Trump to save ‘illicit’ vape industry

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FIRST ON FOX: A top vaping lobbyist, whose group worked closely with the Trump campaign last year and is now ramping up pressure on the Trump administration to «uphold their promise to save the flavored vaping industry,» has extensive ties to the Chinese Communist Party, a Fox News Digital review found.

Tony Abboud, the Illinois-based executive director of the Vapor Technology Association, made several smaller donations to pro-Trump GOP Senate candidates ahead of the 2024 election and met with then-candidate Donald Trump weeks before the election in a push to protect the vaping industry.

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However, his past ties to the Democratic Party and CCP are setting off alarm bells with a political operative close to the Trump administration and a top Republican Congressional leadership aide as Abboud’s group ramps up pressure on the Trump administration and lobbies several states to oppose directory bills, which would crack down on Chinese vape companies.

«Tony Abboud and Vapor Technology Association have deep ties to the CCP and Never-Trumpers,» a person close to the Trump administration told Fox News Digital. «This goes against everything President Trump stands for, which is loyalty and reining in CCP influence, especially when it comes to illicit drugs pouring across the border.»

21,000% SPIKE IN MA VAPE SEIZURES THROWS CIGARETTE BAN INTO QUESTION, EX-ATF OFFICIAL SAYS

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Tony Abboud and other members of the Global Vape Alliance toast each other at 2023 InterTabac trade show in Germany (Left) and (Right) Tony Abboud and then-presidential candidate Donald Trump pose for photo after a private meeting weeks before the 2024 election. (Global Vape Alliance/Vapor Technology Association X screenshot)

Abboud, who previously donated thousands between Obama’s Senate campaign and failed House campaign, among other Democrats, and his vaping group have a close relationship with the Electronic Cigarette Industry Committee of the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce (ECCC), an entity of the CCP.

Abboud’s VTA and the ECCC previously had an informal relationship but officially inked an official partnership together in late 2023, forming the Global Vape Alliance, which includes the UK Vaping Industry Association and the Independent European Vape Alliance. This alliance led to cooperation between the different entities, which entails sharing «information and strategies for best practices to educate and guide member companies on existing laws, regulations and industry standards.»

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«The Alliance will share strategies for the promotion of the healthy development of the global vaping industry, and as a unified voice for the industry, will look to empower their member companies by promoting the sophistication, professionalism, and importance of the industry,» the declaration continued.

«VTA–like Temu, Shein, and TikTok–is well known for putting the interests of Chinese companies ahead of Americans,» a top Republican Congressional leadership aide warned in a statement to Fox News Digital. «No Hill Republicans are take their lobbying seriously and they should be ashamed for lobbying for interests connected to the Chinese Communist Party. American kids deserve a lot better.»

However, a senior adviser to the 2024 Trump campaign dismissed criticism of the group and Abboud, telling Fox News Digital that the «idea that VTA is an anti-Trump group is downright dishonest and utterly laughable.»

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«Not only did they support President Trump’s re-election financially, but they also worked closely with the Trump campaign on a get-out-the-vote program targeting pro-vaping voters in support of the President in all the battleground states,» the former senior adviser said. «Their GOTV operation was so robust that it didn’t just extend to the President himself, but it was also used to support Trump-endorsed MAGA Senate candidates like Bernie Moreno in Ohio.»

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President Donald Trump has repeatedly defended national security advisor Mike Waltz amid fallout over the Signal group chat.  (Donald Trump 2024 campaign)

The ECCC, which partners with Abboud’s group, was established in Shenzhen, China, in January 2017 and operates under the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce (CECC), which is registered with the CCP’s Ministry of Civil Affairs of P. R. China.

A Fox News Digital review found that some of the top leaders of the CECC are former high-ranking members of the CCP, which includes a former member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, a former Vice Premier of the State Council, and a former vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the «key mechanism for multi-party cooperation and political consultation» under the leadership of the CCP, according to the CPPCC website.

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As the executive director of VTA, Abboud has met with Ao Weinuo, the Secretary-General of the ECCC, several times over the years and is featured in several photos with Abboud. 

In a batch of photos from the 2023 InterTabac trade show in Germany, which is where the Global Vape Alliance was officially announced, Weinuo and Abboud posed together for several photographs, including one where the pair and a couple other guys from the GVA toasted each other with their drinks. During the meeting portion of the event, Weinuo and Abboud were also on the same panel that appeared to be going after the Biden administration’s FDA for feeding a «false narrative.»

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That same year, Weinuo and the ECCC members participated in a team-building outing with the theme of «Seeking Red Footprints and Drawing Strength for Progress.» In the background of the photo, which included Abboud’s business partner, the hammer and sickle CCP emblem was visible.

In a promotional video that ECCC posted on Tencent in 2021, ECCC emphasized their goals for Chinese domination and price control in the vaping market, saying, «China has the pricing power» and «influence,» according to English subtitles provided by ECCC.  

Weinuo and the ECCC members participated in a team-building outing with the theme of "Seeking Red Footprints and Drawing Strength for Progress."

Weinuo and the ECCC members participated in a team-building outing with the theme of «Seeking Red Footprints and Drawing Strength for Progress.» (Electronic Cigarette Industry Committee of the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce (ECCC).)

When pressed for comment on VTA’s ties to China and the CCP, Abboud did not address them and instead talked about how he was a «former Democrat who became a Republican because of President Trump» and that «Joe Biden spent 4 years attempting to shut down and bankrupt American vape companies across the country and President Trump is the only person we trust to reverse Biden’s anti-vaping policies and save our industry.»

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The political operative close to the Trump administration pushed back, pointing to a Linkedin post from Abboud’s group, which showed Abboud networking with Democrats, including then-DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, at the 2024 DNC Convention. The post said that VTA sponsored events for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Choose Atlanta and the Democratic Party of Virginia. 

«I’m even more proud that VTA mobilized 360,000 voters to help overwhelmingly return President Trump to the White House because we know that after years of failed Democratic leadership, he is the champion our industry desperately needs,» continued Abboud, who along with VTA, also attended the RNC Convention and moderated a fireside chat. «The brazen attempts to distort our fight to save this industry are nothing more than coordinated attacks from competitors in the tobacco industry who are working with radical leftwingers like Letitia James and would stand to benefit financially from destroying American vape companies nationwide.»

«That would ultimately mean the loss of billions of U.S. tax revenue, hundreds of thousands of American jobs, and tens of thousands of small businesses across this great country,» he concluded.

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In December 2023, Abboud traveled to China and participated in ECCC’s first «International Key Buyers Exchange Meeting» in Shenzhen, which included Weinuo as one of the leaders, according to photos reviewed by Fox News Digital.

According to a press release, «The special committee gave full play to its international influence and ‘brought in’ high-quality overseas wholesalers and brand owners, aiming to connect member companies with overseas resources and channels, and help Chinese e-cigarette products sell better in the international market.»

Abboud would then partner with Weinuo and ECCC a few months later in February 2024 at the Total Product Expo in Las Vegas. The expo was aimed at helping China gain greater access to the U.S. market and attracted more than 600 companies from around the world, including more than 100 exhibitors from China. A press release highlighting the event shows several photos of Abboud and Weinuo together as they hosted an after-party for the crowded event.

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Tony Abboud (second from left) poses with Ao Weinuo (center), the Secretary-General of the ECCC, and others at Total Product Expo in Las Vegas in February 2024.

Tony Abboud (second from left) poses with Ao Weinuo (center), the Secretary-General of the ECCC, and others at Total Product Expo in Las Vegas in February 2024. (Electronic Cigarette Industry Committee of the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce (ECCC).)

A person familiar with the inner workings of Abboud’s VTA downplayed concerns about the group’s ties to China and the CCP, telling Fox News Digital that «Every tobacco company in the industry has their own manufacturing in China» and that the «biggest tobacco companies also have joint ventures directly with the Chinese tobacco monopoly.» The person went on to emphasize that the Global Vape Alliance is engaged «against the black market» and is focusing «its joint efforts on combating the illegal trade in e-cigarettes,» among other initiatives.

In September 2024, Weinuo was invited to deliver remarks on behalf of ECCC at the New Tobacco (E-cigarette) Forum at the New Approaches Summit in New York City, which Abboud also attended. An ECCC press release on the event touts Weinuo as the «first representative of the Chinese e-cigarette industry to participate in the forum in history» and said the «ECCC delegation has attracted much attention at this forum.»

Tony Abboud (Center) poses with Ao Weinuo (Center Right), the Secretary-General of the ECCC, and others at the New Tobacco (E-cigarette) Forum in New York City in September 2024.

Tony Abboud (Center) poses with Ao Weinuo (Center Right), the Secretary-General of the ECCC, and others at the New Tobacco (E-cigarette) Forum in New York City in September 2024. (Electronic Cigarette Industry Committee of the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce (ECCC).)

The press release went on to say that the «United States has the world’s largest and most influential benchmark market» and that the «ECCC delegation’s participation in this forum is of great significance.»

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«It not only uses the international platform to send out a positive voice for the industry and establish a good image of Chinese e-cigarette products in the world, but also demonstrates the ECCC’s far-reaching collaborative work ability and influence in the world as the organization of Chinese e-cigarette companies,» the press release continued, highlighting that multiple current and former leaders from the World Health Organization were in attendance. «It is a concrete action to ‘tell the Chinese story well to the outside world.’»

In December 2024, Abboud visited ECCC in China for supplier and vendor conversations, where he received a «thank you prize for speaking,» according to an individual familiar with the event. A press release highlights how «more than 30 internationally renowned wholesalers and channel dealers from 10 countries and regions, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia, France, Canada, Spain, Romania» visited ECCC as an international delegation to «accelerate the resource matching and docking of Chinese and foreign electronic cigarettes.» 

In addition to Abboud, multiple people on the board of directors for his VTA have ties to China, including Magellan and Demand Vape owner Jon Glauser, who said in a 2023 deposition that he has a «good relationship with every manufacturer over» in China and that he has «spent quite a bit of time in Shenzhen, China, over the years,» noting that this is «where 99 percent of e-cigarettes are made.» 

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«We form a relationship with them, buy it from them either as a master distributor or distributor,» he added.

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Geoff Habicht is another member of VTA’s board of directors and serves as the CEO of Mi-Pod, an Arizona-based company that imports numerous vape juices from China.

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Mi-Pod was recently the subject of a letter from the ranking Democratic member of the House Committee Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party for importing vape products that were banned for domestic sale in China and were the subject of safety concern in the United States.

In addition to the board of directors, several vape companies that are included in VTA’s membership, which range from $500 to $200,000 membership levels to join, are Chinese companies, including VooPoo, which has donated at least $100,000 to be a member of VTA, according to its website.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

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Con la designación de Mojtaba Jamenei, Irán endurece el régimen y profundiza la confrontación con EE.UU.

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La designación de Mojtaba Jamenei como nuevo líder supremo de Irán profundizó el control de las fuerzas más conservadoras y el avance de la Guardia Revolucionaria (CGRI) en el poder político y militar del gobierno de los ayatollah en plena guerra de Medio Oriente.

El mensaje es claro: el “régimen teocrático” se endurece aún más en abierto desafío a los Estados Unidos e Israel y deja una clara advertencia a cualquier atisbo de protesta popular.

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“Todo apunta a que la Guardia Revolucionaria ejerce el poder político y militar. El presidente Masoud Pezeshkian quedó relegado a figura simbólica», dijo a TN el analista internacional Federico Gaón, especializado en temas de Medio Oriente.

Según el experto, “Mojtaba Jamenei ejercía de enlace entre la oficina del ayatollah y el CGRI desde antes de la muerte de su padre”, Ali Jamenei, asesinado el 28 de febrero en el inicio de la guerra.

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“Con Mojtaba al mando, la Guardia Revolucionaria quiere mostrar unidad y cerrar filas en pos de preservar la supervivencia del régimen”, advirtió.

La Guardia Revolucionaria acumula poder

La Guardia Revolucionaria, también conocida como Pasadarán, fue creada tras el triunfo de la Revolución Islámica en 1979. Su objetivo principal es salvaguardar el gobierno de amenazas internas y externas.

Se estima que cuenta con 150.000 efectivos entre fuerzas terrestres, navales y aéreas. Bajo su mando está la milicia voluntaria conocida como Basiji, utilizada para contener protestas y a la oposición. Además, tiene a su cargo a la fuerza Quds, el cuerpo de elite encargado de las operaciones en el exterior y nexo con los grupos proxy proiraníes como Hezbollah, Hamas o los hutíes yemeníes.

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El humo se levanta en Teherán tras un ataque estadounidense-israelí (Foto: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS)

Es, en la práctica, un ejército paralelo.

La Guardia Revolucionaria, según fuentes citadas por Irán Internacional, un medio especializado en noticias iraníes con base en Londres, presionó por la designación de Mojtaba Jamenei, a pesar de que la tradición chiíta rechaza la sucesión dinástica.

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Leé también: La guerra en Medio Oriente golpea a China: petróleo, asociación estratégica con Irán y tensión geopolítica

De esa manera, este cuerpo militar de élite se convirtió virtualmente en el nuevo y monopólico gran poder político y militar del país, en un escenario complejo que deja muchísimas dudas en el terreno.

“La eliminación sistemática de los escalafones más altos del régimen por parte de los Estados Unidos e Israel va a dificultar el proceso de toma y ejecución de decisiones”, dijo Gaón.

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Para el analista, “en este momento lo más probable es que distintas unidades de la Guardia Revolucionaria estén actuando de forma independiente o descentralizada, cual organización terrorista. Tienen más de 30 unidades o comandos que operan de forma independiente, decidiendo cómo continuar la guerra y qué hacer para mantener el orden interno”, añadió.

Amenazas de represión interna: “Orden de disparar a matar”

Salar Abnoush, un comandante de la Guardia Revolucionaria, citado por The Media Line, un portal estadounidense especializado en Medio Oriente, advirtió que cualquier iraní que salga a las calles a protestar será atacado bajo “orden de disparar a matar”.

Según el reporte, numerosos iraníes lanzan “espontáneamente” distintas consignas contra el gobierno desde sus casas y en la oscuridad de la noche. Pero nadie se anima a protestar en las calles, como en las masivas movilizaciones de diciembre y enero que dejaron miles de muertos.

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Leé también: Los kurdos quieren combatir a los ayatollah: contactos con la CIA y el riesgo de una guerra civil en Irán

Según el reporte, las fuerzas Basiji desplegaron armas pesadas y vehículos blindados en lugares clave de Teherán listas para reprimir a manifestantes.

Un mensaje de SMS al que tuvo acceso el portal y distribuido entre la población de Karaj, a 40 kilómetros de Teherán, alertó sobre eventuales protestas. “Cualquier disturbio callejero será tratado como cooperación con el enemigo”, indicó.

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Las unidades de la Guardia Revolucionaria y de los Basiji se reposicionaron en estadios, complejos deportivos, escuelas y mezquitas después de que sus cuarteles fueron blanco de los ataques estadounidenses e israelíes.

El nuevo líder supremo de Irán, Mojtaba Jamenei, que sucede a su padre, el ayatollah, Alí Jamenei, que murió en el inicio de los ataques de Estados Unidos e Israel. (Foto: EFE - Mehr)

El nuevo líder supremo de Irán, Mojtaba Jamenei, que sucede a su padre, el ayatollah, Alí Jamenei, que murió en el inicio de los ataques de Estados Unidos e Israel. (Foto: EFE – Mehr)

Más confrontación y línea dura

La designación de Mojtaba Jamenei y el aumento del poder de la Guardia Nacional son un claro mensaje de que el gobierno de los ayatollah eligió la confrontación total con Estados Unidos e Israel.

Es el triunfo de la línea dura del poder central.

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El mundo extrañará la era de su padre”, dijo a Reuters un funcionario iraní. “Mojtaba no tendrá más remedio que mostrar un puño de hierro. Incluso si el conflicto termina, habrá una severa represión interna”, advirtió.

En ese escenario, Irán no piensa cesar la guerra. «Mojtaba es aún peor y más de línea dura que su padre”, dijo Alan Eyre, exdiplomático estadounidense y especialista en Irán, citado por The Israel Times.

El mensaje es inequívoco: la Revolución Islámica está dispuesta a todo para preservar el poder.

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Ukraine sending drone team to help protect US bases in Jordan at Washington’s request, Zelenskyy says

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Ukraine has dispatched interceptor drones and a team of drone specialists to help protect U.S. military bases in Jordan as fighting tied to the Iran war intensifies across the region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with The New York Times.

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Zelenskyy told the NYT that Washington made the request on Thursday, and Kyiv moved swiftly to respond, dispatching the drone team the following day.

«We reacted immediately,» Zelenskyy said. «I said, yes, of course, we will send our experts.»

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for confirmation.

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IRAN PROXIES WAGE WAR ON ISRAEL, THREATEN US INTERESTS AS IRAQ SLAMMED FOR NOT DISARMING THEM

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi stands during a joint press conference with Prime Minister of the Netherlands Rob Jetten on March 8, 2026, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Viktor Kovalchuk/Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images)

The reported request comes as the U.S. and Gulf states work to intercept hundreds of Iranian missiles and thousands of drones launched in retaliation for U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

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Iranian drones have struck the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, including an attack on a tactical operations center in Kuwait that killed six U.S. service members.

The high volume of Iranian Shahed drone launches has drawn attention to the cost disparity between the relatively inexpensive unmanned aircraft and the far more sophisticated air defense systems, such as Patriot missiles, used to intercept them.

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According to the Department of the Army’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget estimates, the cost for a single Patriot PAC-3 MSE interceptor is $3.8 million.

A basic Iranian-designed Shahed drone costs roughly $20,000 to $50,000, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

CENTCOM ISSUES SAFETY WARNING TO IRANIAN CIVILIANS AS REGIME USES ‘HEAVILY POPULATED’ AREAS FOR LAUNCHES

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First-person-view training drones hang on a wall inside a drone instruction facility in Kyiv.

FPV training drones are seen on a wall at the Killhouse Academy drone training center on March 4, 2026, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

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«Iran knows it can’t match the U.S. or Gulf states plane for plane or missile for missile, but it can change the economics of the conflict,» said Patrycja Bazylczyk, an associate director with the Missile Defense Project at CSIS, in an interview with Military Times.

«Drones let Iran punch above its weight, keep its adversaries off balance, and project power across the region at minimal cost. We can’t just play whack-a-mole in the sky,» she added. «Shooting drones down one by one is the most expensive way to fight the cheapest threat. We have to go after the roots – the launch sites, the production lines, and the storage depots.»

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‘Serious concerns’: GOP sounds alarm on taxpayer funds going to ‘high risk’ universities vulnerable to CCP

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FIRST ON FOX: The House Select Committee on China is calling on the National Science Foundation (NSF) to pause a $67 million research security initiative, citing concerns that the universities leading the effort have engaged in problematic collaborations with Chinese military-linked institutions.

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In a Tuesday letter to NSF Interim Director Brian Stone obtained by Fox News Digital, House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, a Republican from Michigan, urged the agency to suspend funding for the «Safeguarding the Entire Community of the U.S. Research Ecosystem» (SECURE) initiative and conduct a comprehensive review of the participating institutions.

Moolenaar’s concern, expressed in the letter, is that several of those participating institutions, including Texas A&M University and the University of Washington, receive tens of millions from the grant despite ties to the CCP that the committee finds concerning.

«The program is intended to develop tools, data infrastructure, and analytic capabilities for assessing research-security risks,» Moolenaar wrote. «Faculty from UW and TAMU – the same institutions now charged with designing systems and processes to protect taxpayer-funded research – have been collaborating with People’s Republic of China (PRC) defense research and industrial base entities, many of which are on various U.S. government national security entity lists, as detailed in this letter.»

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NEW REPORT SOUNDS ALARM ON ‘STAGGERING’ AMOUNT OF FOREIGN MONEY POURING INTO US UNIVERSITIES
 

The House Select Committee on China is sounding the alarm about taxpayer dollars going to CCP-linked entities.  (Li Gang/Xinhua via Getty Images)

The committee alleges the University of Washington collaborated on research with Chinese institutions tied to the CCP’s military and defense sector, including entities on U.S. government watchlists. The committee cited joint publications with PLA-linked organizations, China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences and universities known as the «Seven Sons of National Defense,» involving work in AI, advanced materials and other dual-use technologies.

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The letter describes the university’s ties as «high-risk research relationships with PRC military- and defense-linked institutions.»

The University of Washington is designated to be awarded $50 million from the grant. 

Additionally, the note claims that Texas A&M partnered with Chinese defense-affiliated institutions, including the PLA’s National University of Defense Technology and Harbin Institute of Technology. They argue these collaborations, some involving federally funded research, raise national security concerns and could conflict with U.S. research security and export control laws.

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Texas A&M is designated to be awarded $17 million from the grant. 

HOUSE REPUBLICANS SOUND ALARM OVER CCP-LINKED FAKE RESEARCH THREATENING US TAXPAYER-FUNDED SCIENCE

«Institutions entrusted with U.S. taxpayer dollars to safeguard the nation’s research enterprise should not simultaneously enable foreign adversaries to access and exploit sensitive research and taxpayer-funded scientific advances,» Moolenaar wrote.

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«These joint research projects detailed above raise serious concerns about allocating taxpayer dollars for research security initiatives to institutions like TAMU and UW—institutions with documented and ongoing failures in safeguarding U.S. research from PRC defense entities,» Moolenaar said, adding that it is «troubling that U.S. institutions that collaborate with China’s defense research and industrial base, its nuclear weapons programs, its mass surveillance infrastructure, and institutions on U.S. government national security lists are being entrusted to co-lead the development of national research security frameworks.»

Moolenaar’s letter urges NSF to assess whether the institutions are complying with a range of federal requirements, including National Security Presidential Memorandum 33 (NSPM-33) Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, and U.S. export control laws.

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Chinese honor guards outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing

Chinese honor guards prepare for the arrival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images)

Moolenaar also raised concerns about potential violations of the Wolf Amendment, an appropriations restriction in effect since 2012 that prohibits NASA from engaging in bilateral cooperation with the Chinese government or Chinese government-affiliated organizations in NASA-funded research without specific certification.

Moolenaar’s letter concludes with four requests for NSF to respond to by March 31.

First, the congressman asks if NSF will pause its SECURE contract funding to conduct a «full review» and also requests that NSF provide the committee with the results of that review.

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The letter also requests that NSF «provide the award and contract details for the SECURE Initiative» and asks whether NSF believes that «it is appropriate for universities to use U.S. taxpayer funds to conduct research in collaboration with known Chinese defense research and industrial base entities or entities implicated in human rights violations?»

«Will NSF update its terms and conditions to expressly prohibit the use of award funds to conduct research with, or for the benefit of, any entity that appears on a publicly available U.S. government entity list?» the last question in the letter asks. «If not, please explain why.»

Fox News Digital reached out to Texas A&M University for comment, as well as Stanford University, who is mentioned in the letter as being a participant in the program.

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«NSF will respond directly to the Committee’s letter,» an NSF spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a University of Washington spokesperson said, «SECURE is a dynamic program that is not prescriptive but can assist universities of all sizes and other research entities to address research security concerns. The University of Washington takes research security and integrity very seriously. The UW directs significant effort and resources toward being leaders in research security and integrity, and goes above and beyond SECURE’s guidance and recommendations. Given the evolving landscape, we are regularly reviewing our guidelines and protocols.»

Fox News Digital has extensively reported on rising concerns about the CCP’s attempts to infiltrate the education system in the United States, including a sweeping report last year warning that America’s top universities have been quietly partnering with Chinese artificial intelligence labs deeply embedded in Beijing’s surveillance and security state and in some cases co-authoring thousands of papers with entities tied to oppressive efforts against Uyghur Muslims.

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