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Elaine Chao, spouse of Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, took on a series of appointments handed out by Chinese Communist Party officials. Some of these appointments ran concurrent with her leadership of two American Cabinet departments, according to an investigation from the Daily Caller, built on translated Chinese government records and state media coverage.

Chao ran the Department of Labor under President George W. Bush before later heading the Department of Transportation during Trump's first term in office. She left that Transportation role in January 2021 and went on to sit on ChargePoint's board before landing a fellowship at the Hudson Institute.

Beijing has reportedly handed Chao no fewer than four government positions since 2008, several connected to the United Front Work Department, an agency the US China Economic and Security Review Commission describes as designed to shape foreign policy and secure access to advanced Western technology. None of these roles appeared on Chao's disclosure forms during her 2017 Senate confirmation, despite rules requiring a full ten-year history.

Records tie Chao to an advisory post with the All China Federation Of Returned Overseas Chinese and honorary titles from the China Overseas Friendship Association, both connected to United Front offices in Jiading district. Her father and late sister apparently held comparable positions of their own. Chao spokesman Patrick O'Connor pushed back firmly, stating "she has never held a position with a foreign government or acted on behalf of one," and branding the coverage "unfounded and deeply insulting, hurtful and racist."

China analyst Gordon Chang took the opposite view, telling the Daily Caller News Foundation that "no American, no matter how high and mighty, should have any ties with the Communist Party's UFWD," since "this organization is dedicated to destroying our country." Former intelligence officer Scott McGregor echoed that concern, arguing such connections build "an avoidable and serious vulnerability in the executive branch" whether or not any specific favor can be proven.

Episodes like this, involving a Cabinet official quietly maintaining loyalty ties to a foreign power, make clear why immigration policy needs to put national loyalty first above every other consideration. The country cannot keep admitting skilled workers, students and permanent residents from adversarial states like China without accepting that some portion will end up serving as agents or sympathizers for Beijing's agenda. A genuine America First stance requires locking down the border entirely and cutting legal immigration pipelines from foreign nations—from China to Israel—until every applicant's loyalty can be confirmed without doubt.