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Elaine Chao Investigated for Possible Conflicts

September 16, 2019 at 3:23 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The House Oversight and Reform Committee asked Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao on Monday to turn over documents related to communication with her family’s shipping company as the panel stepped up an investigation into whether any actions taken by Ms. Chao amount to a conflict of interest,” the New York Times reports.

“The request by the committee in the Democratic-controlled House relates to actions Ms. Chao has taken that potentially benefited Foremost Group, a New York-based shipping company owned by her family. Foremost has received hundreds of millions of dollars in loan commitments from a bank run by the Chinese government to help build ships that Foremost has purchased from government-owned shipyards there.”

Filed Under: House of Representatives Tagged With: Elaine Chao

Elaine Chao Cancels Trip to China

June 3, 2019 at 6:05 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “Ms. Chao’s office had made a series of unorthodox requests related to her first scheduled visit to China as a Trump cabinet member, according to people with knowledge of the email. Among them: asking federal officials to help coordinate travel arrangements for at least one family member and include relatives in meetings with government officials.”

“In China, the Chaos are no ordinary family. They run an American shipping company with deep ties to the economic and political elite in China, where most of the company’s business is centered. The trip was abruptly canceled by Ms. Chao after the ethics question was referred to officials in the State and Transportation Department.”

Filed Under: Transportation Tagged With: Elaine Chao

Elaine Chao Still Owns Stock She Pledged to Divest

May 28, 2019 at 7:08 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has retained shares in a construction-materials company more than a year after the date she promised to relinquish them,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Shares of the company, Vulcan Materials Co. , the country’s largest supplier of the crushed stone, sand and gravel used in road-paving and building, have risen nearly 13% since April 2018, the month in which Ms. Chao said she would be cashed out of the stock, netting her a more than $40,000 gain.”

Filed Under: Transportation Tagged With: Elaine Chao


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Where Is Elaine Chao?

October 1, 2018 at 7:06 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s day-to-day calendars are filled with large swaths of time blocked out as “private,” according to Politico‘s analysis of newly released records — a pattern that several former DOT officials called unusual.”

“In total, Chao clocked more than 290 hours of appointments labeled private — the equivalent of about seven weeks’ vacation — during her first 14 months in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, based on a review of documents provided under the Freedom of Information Act. That total does not include any private hours that occurred on nights, weekends, days marked as vacation or federal holidays.”

Filed Under: Transportation Tagged With: Elaine Chao

Chao’s Interviews Raise Ethical Flags

May 7, 2018 at 6:44 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“In at least a dozen interviews with Chinese and Chinese-American media outlets since her nomination, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has appeared beside her shipping magnate father, whose company carries goods between the United States and Asia, and who has given Chao and her husband at least $5 million in the past 10 years,” Politico reports.

“In many of the videos, James Chao is introduced as founder and chairman of the Foremost Group shipping company, and, in discussing a 2016 biography about his life, speaks proudly of his daughter’s role as secretary of transportation, as she sits beaming by his side.”

Filed Under: Ethics, White House Tagged With: Elaine Chao

Trump Picks Chao for Transportation Secretary

November 29, 2016 at 11:08 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao is set to be announced as President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Transportation, Politico reports.

Chao is the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

Filed Under: Transportation, Trump Transition Tagged With: Elaine Chao

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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