US House probes Donald Trump’s transport chief Elaine Chao for possible conflicts, cites report about scrapped China trip
- Elaine Chao investigated for allegedly using official position to benefit family’s shipping company, which transports materials to and from China
- Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has denied wrongdoing
The investigation has the potential to graze the upper echelons of Republican power in Washington as Chao is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in Congress.
The chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Elijah Cummings, wrote Chao requesting documents and citing “troubling questions” over whether she used her office for personal gain.
“The Committee is examining your misstatements of fact, your actions that may have benefitted the company in which you continued to hold shares and your compliance with ethics and financial disclosure requirements,” wrote Cummings and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, who chairs the panel’s economic and consumer policy subcommittee.
They pointed to reports indicating that Chao, who was born in Taipei to Chinese parents, used her position to benefit Foremost Group, a shipping firm owned by her father and sisters, and to increase its influence and status with the Chinese government.