Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific US Caucus, criticized Republican Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas on Thursday for his comments this week questioning his loyalty to the US.
Chu, D-Calif., issued a statement in response to Gooden’s comments on Fox News. interview on Wednesday night, when he suggested that Chu should not have a security clearance or access to classified briefings. Chu had defended Dominic Ng, a Biden appointee who appears in an article by the conservative Daily Caller who alleged that Ng has ties to a Chinese Communist Party front group.
«Rep. Gooden’s comments on Fox News questioning my loyalty to the US are absolutely outrageous,» said Chu, the first Chinese-American woman elected to Congress. «It’s based on false information spread by a far-right website. Plus, it’s racist. I highly doubt you’d be spreading these lies if you weren’t of Chinese-American descent.»
Gooden said in the interview: «I think Judy Chu needs to be called out.»
“I question their loyalty or their competence. If she doesn’t realize what’s going on, then she’s totally out of touch with one of her core constituencies,” she said. «I am truly disappointed and surprised that someone like Judy Chu has security clearance and the right to confidential intelligence briefings until this is resolved.»
Daily Caller editor Neil Patel defended the article in a statement, saying: “It was well researched, fairly reported and relied heavily on direct Chinese-language source materials. Representative Chu is savagely attacking rather than substantively engaging as she is unable to refute the facts presented.”
Gooden, a third-term lawmaker who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, joined five other House Republicans on February 15 in asking FBI to investigate Ng, the CEO of East West Bank in California, whom Biden appointed last year to be the Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council.
Chu and other members of the US Asia-Pacific Caucus, Democratic Reps. Grace Meng of New York, Ted Lieu of California, and Mark Takano of California, responded to their Republican colleagues two days later in a joint statement.
“As with all presidential appointees, Dominic Ng, who is a Chinese American, has undergone an extensive vetting process and is sworn to support and defend the Constitution and serve the American public,” they said. «No Chinese American, indeed no American, should face suspicion of disloyalty or treason based on their ethnicity, national origin, or that of their relatives.»
Federal Election Commission records show Ng has donated to several Democratic congressional candidates, including Lieu, as well as the Biden Victory Fund and the Democratic National Committee in recent years.
Asked on Fox News whether Chu should be «investigated» in light of his defense of Ng, Gooden said: «I think everyone who defends the Communist Party of China should be investigated, yes.»
He added that he believed Chu had acted as a «ringleader» and dragged in «the other Chinese-American members» of the caucus to support Ng.
Lieu and Meng are Taiwanese Americans and Takano is a Japanese American.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., criticized Gooden in a statement Thursday.
«Gooden’s slanderous accusation of disloyalty against Rep. Chu is dangerous, unconscionable and xenophobic,» Jeffries said.
Gooden stood by his comments Thursday, saying: «Instead of following the facts that indicate the presence of Chinese espionage, Chu and Jeffries are playing the race card in a sick display of disloyalty to our nation.»
A spokesman for East West Bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.