Former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch tried to secretly push the Department of Defense to remove a controversial Chinese drone company from a U.S. list of Chinese companies that are part of the communist country’s military.
Reuters reported that SZ DJI Technology Co. turned to Lynch and two other former U.S. officials — former Assistant United States Attorney Michael Gertzman and Associate White House Counsel in the Obama administration Roberto Gonzalez — to get them removed from the list.
All three former U.S. officials — who now work together at the Paul, Weiss law firm — signed the letter to the Pentagon official last year and put a “confidential treatment requested” label on the letter.
DJI represents a potential threat to U.S. national security, the Pentagon said in 2021.
The report noted that the letter, which it obtained a copy of, is an example of why U.S. officials are pushing to close loopholes in the law that allow lawyers and lobbyists to avoid disclosing their work for foreign companies that could be subject to U.S. sanctions.
The loophole in the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) does not require individuals involved with “commercial activities and legal representation” to disclose their work to the U.S. government.
Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, slammed Lynch over her advocacy for entities connected to China’s military.
“It is appalling that former senior U.S. officials use their connections to serve the interests of U.S. adversaries,” Risch said.
Lynch pushed the U.S. to drop the designation immediately because the drones were already in “wide use” in the U.S.
She also requested a meeting with the department so she could address the issue.
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