Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Hannah Knowles.
Noting that federal employees are forbidden from using public office for friends’ or relatives’ “private gain,” the committee’s letter to Chao cites media reports that allege the secretary leveraged her position to help Foremost Group — a New York-based shipping company that carries goods between the United States and China and that is owned by her father and sisters — gain “influence and status” with the Chinese government that has given the firm millions in loans.
The sweeping request for documents follows growing scrutiny of Chao and joins a host of inquiries into the Trump administration by a Democrat-led House. The committee cites reporting by the New York Times this summer that the Transportation Department canceled a fall 2017 trip to China after State Department staff members grew leery of Chao’s efforts to include relatives in meetings with Chinese officials. House investigators are also examining Chao’s appearances with her father, James Chao, in interviews that featured the DOT’s seal, and Monday’s letter alleges the secretary’s father “touted [Chao’s] influence within the United States government and boasted about his access to President Trump on Air Force One.”
The committee’s letter makes 18 requests for documents and information, ranging from any communications about Foremost involving DOT employees to unredacted copies of documents released to the Times under a Freedom of Information Act request.
It asks that Chao fulfill the requests by Sept. 30.
The Transportation Department pushed back on claims of ethics violations Monday, saying in a statement to The Washington Post that Chao has not been involved with the family’s shipping business for more than four decades. The department confirmed it received the committee’s letter and said it looks forward to responding.
“Media attacks targeting the Secretary’s family are stale and only attempt to undermine her long career of public service,” the department wrote.
The link between Chao and Foremost Group
While Chao does not have a formal stake in Foremost Group, James Chao has given millions to his daughter and her husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the New York Times reported this summer. Other relatives, including a sister who serves as the company’s chief executive, have donated more than $1 million to McConnell’s reelection efforts, according to the Times. David Popp, a spokesman for McConnell, told The Post the money from James Chao was in memory of Chao’s mother but did not provide comment on the House investigation letter.
An article in Politico last year highlighted dozens of media interviews in which Chao stood beside her father — sometimes in conjunction with flags for the Transportation Department or Kentucky. Experts told Politico the interviews could be interpreted as promoting Chao’s father’s book or signaling the Chaos’ valuable U.S. connections in China.
“There is nothing inappropriate with a Cabinet member appearing with her father or other family members,” a DOT spokesperson responded at the time. “The secretary’s appearances are intended to share an inspirational story about immigrants from a minority community who have become successful in our country.”
But others in the government have questioned Chao’s mixing of family and official business since she became head of the Transportation Department in 2017.
“This was alarmingly inappropriate,” David Rank, a former State Department staffer, said of the China visit canceled over Chao’s attempts to involve relatives, according to the Times.
Other Oversight Committee concerns
The Oversight and Reform Committee’s letter also probes recent moves by the Transportation Department to cut millions from programs meant to help the U.S. shipping industry, saying the department’s actions “may threaten national security” by making the country potentially more dependent on foreign-flagged ships during war or emergencies. The Department’s proposals included ultimately rejected cuts to the Maritime Security Program, which helps ensure the military can access American-flagged ships in times of need.
Removing domestic maritime funding could have helped Foremost Group because the company owns foreign-flagged ships, the letter says.
The committee raises further concerns about Chao’s failure to divest from a construction company reliant on DOT infrastructure allocations until this summer — despite a promise to do so in 2017, before she was confirmed to the position. Chao sold her stock in Vulcan Materials Company, where she once served on the board of directors, days after a Wall Street Journal report drew attention to her continued holdings.
Amid scrutiny of the Vulcan shares, a June 13 DOT letter to the Office of Government Ethics described “inadvertent misstatements of fact” in Chao’s earlier financial disclosures and an ethics agreement. The Oversight Committee says it is examining these misstatements as well as Chao’s compliance with ethics and disclosure requirements.
The investigation could lead to higher penalties for inaccurate financial statements, new disclosure requirements or other changes in the law, the letter signed by Reps. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) states.
The Transportation Department’s response
The Transportation Department disputed the allegations against Chao on many fronts in its statement to The Post on Monday. It suggested the Chao family’s shipping company falls outside the department’s purview, saying its Maritime Administration is “not a major regulator of the maritime industry” and deals mostly with domestic shipping. Foremost Group does not operate U.S.-flagged vessels and is “not involved in the domestic U.S. merchant marine shipping business,” the department said.
The department countered criticism of its past proposed cuts to domestic shipping programs by saying the Maritime Administration’s operating budget is larger than ever. The department requested the full $300 million authorized for the Maritime Security Program this year and is working to replace training ships for marine academies, it said.
The department added that its ethics officials do not see Chao’s stock in Vulcan Materials as a conflict of interest and said the secretary has been recused from issues involving the company. Chao sold her stocks anyway due to a “commitment to going above and beyond what is required,” the department said.
The department attributed errors in Chao’s ethics disclosures to a “misunderstanding.”
The Oversight and Reform Committee did not immediately respond to a Tuesday morning request for comment.
