Marilyn Glynn, a former chief at the Office of Government Ethics, told the New York Times that Chao should recuse herself.
, Chao requested in October 2017 that federal officials make travel arrangements for at least one of her relatives to China. She also asked for her family members to be included in meetings with government officials.that Chao's request was"alarmingly inappropriate." Rank was previously the acting U.S. ambassador to China but resigned in 2017 after President Donald Trump decided to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
Another department official, who remained anonymous, told the newspaper that Chao's family and their business interests were"potentially affected by meetings." Her family's business, the Foremost Group, is a shipping, trading and finance company. Chao has no formal affiliation with the company but she has been gifted millions of dollars from her father, who ran the company until last year, according to theChao is married to Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, whose re-election campaigns have also benefited from large monetary donations from the Chao family.
The requested trip was eventually dropped by the Transportation Department, though the agency did not state a reason for the cancellation. Before the trip was cancelled, department officials sent hundreds of emails planning the visit. Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation Hon. Elaine L. Chao speaks onstage during the 2018 Concordia Annual Summit - Day 1 at Grand Hyatt New York on September 24, 2018 in New York City. A recent report from the New York Times found that Chao tried to set up a meeting between her relatives and Chinese officials, but the trip was cancelled amid ethics concern.
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