‘Pretty Gross’: How a Network of Retired Lawmakers Boosts CCP Influence in Washington

As Beltway institutions cut ties with Chinese Communist Party front groups, a group of former congressmen has kept a close relationship with a think tank that oversees Beijing’s foreign influence efforts.

The Association of Former Members of Congress, a networking hub for former lawmakers, has hosted multiple events since 2020 for the China-United States Exchange Foundation, the CCP’s leading foreign influence think tank. The Exchange Foundation sponsors the association’s annual awards gala, which will be held next month, and it has worked hand-in-glove with the Exchange Foundation’s lobbyist to host policy events where pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong have been blamed on “foreign forces” and the United States has been accused of directing “vitriol” toward China.

“It’s really murky and pretty gross,” said Dylan Hedtler–Gaudette, government affairs manager at the Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan transparency group. Hedtler-Gaudette says the overlapping ties between Capitol Counsel, the Exchange Foundation, and the Association of Former Members of Congress constitute a “shadow lobbying operation.”

The arrangement shows the extent of the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda operation in the United States. It also highlights a type of influence peddling prevalent in Washington, where consulting firms work with think tanks and nonprofit organizations on behalf of corporate clients and foreign entities, often without disclosing the connections. – READ MORE