March 21, 2024 • 29 mins
In this episode, Peter Schweizer discusses his new book 'Blood Money' and the reasons why politicians turn a blind eye to China's actions. He highlights the financial and relational compromises that lead politicians to ignore China's harmful activities. Schweizer exposes the deep financial ties between Mitch McConnell and China, as well as Joe Biden's involvement in his son's business dealings with China. He also reveals China's significant role in the fentanyl crisis and their control over TikTok as a propaganda vehicle. Schweizer discusses China's disintegration warfare strategy, their actions during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their influence on American education. Subscribe now to The Truth with Lisa Boothe - new episodes debut every Monday & Thursday.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're gonna have Peter Schweizer on the show today. He's
out with a new book called Blood Money, Why the
Powerful turns a blind eye while China Kills Americans. For
this book, him and his team of forensic investigators spent
more than two years going through a trove of restricted
Chinese military documents, data mining on American financial records, and
tracking political leaders, investments, and family businesses. So what did
(00:26):
they find? That's what we'll get into with Peter. You know,
just how much does China control or politicians, what industries
do they have a stranglehold over, and how does that
impact our lives?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
How does that impact Americans?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
All that and more with Peter Schweizer, author of the
new book Blood Money. Well, Peter, it's always great to
have you on the show. You always just have the
most interesting information, so I always do a great job
breaking it down.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
So I just really appreciate you making the.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Time absolutely and enjoy it. LI. So thanks, thanks.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So your new book, Blood Money, you talk about why
the powerful turns a blind eye? I guess you know,
we'll start with sort of the most obvious question, you know,
why do they turn a blind eye?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
It's a good question. I think there's some people in Washington,
probably the majority of them, that turn a blind eye
because they got to Washington. They kind of go along
to get along. They don't want a heavy lift. And
when you realize what China is doing to the United States,
you realize quickly you can't have a normal relationship with
this country. So part of our leadership class doesn't want
(01:37):
to do anything because they don't want to have a
difficult job. But I think there's a smaller portion, but
a significant portion that turn a blind eye because they
are financially or relationally compromised. They have relationships or have
had relationships with people that are involved in these activities.
They profited from it, either directly or indirectly, and it's
(02:01):
deeply embarrassing and you know, politically damaging for them to
address it, so they look away for those highly personal reasons.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
You know, we know that Senator Dianne Feinstein had employed
a driver for I think something like twenty years to
Chinese spy Eric Swobo had a relationship with a Chinese spy.
Did you get into to what extent and how often
that happens? You know, how many politicians are compromised in
that way?
Speaker 3 (02:31):
I think. I think there's a fair number, and they're
at very high levels. In blood money. I talk about
the bidens. I talk about the Republican leader, Senator Mitch McConnell,
Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, Adam Schiff, and there
are others, but I focus on those because they all
have important positions and roles and they have I think
(02:54):
been particularly responsible for refusing to even explore or investigator
to try to understand what China is actually doing to
this country. So those are the ones that I think
matter the most, and those are the ones that I
think have been the most silent when it comes to
these activities.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
For Mitch McConnell, you know, to what extent is he
entangled with China.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
It's pretty deep and it's pretty financial. It goes back
to nineteen ninety three when he was a senator and
married to Elaine Chow. He joined Elaine and his father
in law, James Chow for a trip to China. They
were guests of the Chinese State Shipbuilding Corporation, and basically
a bargain was struck. The Chow family made a deal
(03:42):
with the Chinese government where the Chinese government would build
the ships for their shipping business. They would finance the
construction of those ships, they would provide crews for those ships,
and they would provide contracts from Chinese state owned companies
to ship their goods around the Pacific. Really built and
made the shipping business as it exists today, foremost chipping,
(04:06):
which is the Chow family business. What that means, though, Lisa,
is that if the Senator were to make a decision
or to say things or do things that were deeply
damaging to China, they could literally destroy the shipping business overnight.
And I think that's the reason you will have Mitch McConnell,
(04:26):
you know, pay lip service to talking tough about China,
but he won't actually do anything about it. The Chinese
call this big help with a little bad mouth. They
recognize that for political viability, people like Senator McConnell have
to say tough things, but on the big important things
that matter to them most. McConnell has been quite helpful.
(04:47):
And that's just one example of how this political leverage
works and leads our leaders to be silent when they
should be, you know, honestly raising hell about what China
is doing to Americans.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
You know, we know that Biden has continuously tried to
distance himself from his son's business dealings. Is there any
ambiguity to you or are you just completely sold on
the fact that Joe Biden was involved in his Sun's
business dealings.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Well, he was involved in his Sun's business dealings. And
there's one particular deal I highlight in the book Blood
Money that I think explains why Joe Biden will not
hold China into account, will not call them out on
the issue of fentanyl. Fentanyl people focus on the Mexican
drug cartels. It's really a Chinese operation from beginning to end,
(05:36):
and I lay that out in the book. But here's
the problem for Joe Biden and why I think he
doesn't want to address that issue. A Chinese criminal gang
called UBG set up the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico and
made them the kings of fentanyl, and that fentanyl now
is the leading cause of death for Americans under the
(05:57):
age of forty five. This Chinese criminal gang UBG is
headed by a gentleman named jiang An Lowe who goes
by the name White Wolf. White Wolf's business partner in
twenty seventeen gave the Biden family in the communication, it
doesn't say Hunter gave the Biden family a five million
(06:18):
dollar forgivable interest free loan that the Bidens have never repaid.
So you essentially have Lisa one disagree of separation between
the Biden family and the fentanyl trade that is killing Americans.
I'm not suggesting Joe Biden's involved in the trade, but
that is perilously close and deeply embarrassing for the Biden family.
(06:42):
So that I think explains why Joe Biden does not
want to call out China on this issue, does not
want to challenge them for what they're doing and the
harm that it's causing Americans.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
And to what extent is China involved in our sentinel crisis.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
They are really the senior partner. The drug cartel are
the junior partner every link in this chain. China calls
the shots, so people know the precursors come from China.
Of course, they arrive at the Port of Manzanillo in Mexico.
Dea says that's ninety percent of the fentanyl precursors arrive there.
That port in Monzanillo is run by a Chinese state
(07:19):
owned company. Those precursors then ship to a town in
northern Mexico where, according to our Department of Homeland Security,
two thousand Chinese nationals live in this Mexican town, and
they turn these precursors into fentanyl, this poison that is
killing all of these Americans. Now, people that are dying
(07:40):
a fentanyl a poisoning don't know they're taking fentanyl. They
think they're taking a vikadin or an adderall or something
like that. So the drug cartels need pill presses, and
they need molds that can create make the fentanyl into
something that looks like an adderall or a vicodin. Well,
where the cartels get the pill presses and the molds,
(08:01):
they get them from the Chinese, who, according to the
Department of Whole Land Security, sell those to the drug
cartels at cost. In other words, they're not price gouging them. Now,
once they've made the fentanyl in these pills, they bring
them into the United States. The drug cartels need secure
communications because they don't want US law enforcement listening in eavesdropping.
(08:24):
They use Chinese apps and Chinese communication devices encrypted in
China because they know that the Chinese will not turn
over those communications to US law enforcement. And then Lisa
the final link in the chain is the money laundering.
Any drug cartel that is making money needs to launder
that money somewhere. And it used to be in the
(08:46):
days when it was mostly cocaine and heroin, that the
drug cartels laundered their money in Latin American banks. Today, Lisa,
they launder their money in Chinese state owned banks, and
they oftentimes use Chinese students in the United States on
education visas to do so. So, as I said, this
is a Chinese led officer operation. The drug cartels are
(09:10):
the junior partners here, and they each get out of
this what they want.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
You know, you're always covering dis government corruption over the years,
and you know, some many best selling books. When you
were researching for this one, what were some of the
examples that even stood out to you as someone who
has seen it all, so to speak, where you're like, man,
this is real, They're bad, you know, you know, give
us some examples where you were just like even you
(09:36):
were alarmed and having seen it all.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Yeah, Well, in terms of some of the active activities
of the Chinese probably the most surprising to me was
that two of the biggest funders of the trans movement
in the United States are actually Chinese based billionaires that
really surprised me. I name them in the book, describe
who they are. They are prominent people in China. And
(09:59):
what's surprise about this lease is that neither one of
them actually advocates for these positions in China itself. They
only do it in the United States, and I think
they do it to so division within our country. In
terms of the personal corruption in the United States, probably
the most surprising was Gavin Newsom, former mayor of San Francisco,
(10:20):
current governor. He has longtime ties to organize crime figures,
Chinese organized crime figures who are involved in the drug trade.
I'm not suggesting that he participates in that or that
he's involved in it, but he has struck relationships with
figures that are known to be involved with these crime syndicates,
(10:41):
and these crime synicas are known to be evolved in
the drug trade. He has benefited from those relationships. They
have certainly benefited from their ties to him, and some
of these are relationships that go years back, and there
are multitudes of them. So that was probably the biggest
surprise to me. I think anybody that reads the book,
we'll see Gavin Newsom differently after they read this book.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Well, of course that's concerning because you know, he clearly
even Stevie Wonderer can see that he wants to run
for president one day. So that's you know, that's concerning, right,
that he's got these ties.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Yeah, and it affects and it affects his judgment. I mean,
you know, California has an increase in fentanyl deaths since
twenty sixteen of over fourteen hundred percent. And yet when
Gavin Newsom went to China recently, he said he'd talked
to you about fentanyl. But in his words there was
quote no finger pointing. How you cannot point your fingers?
(11:40):
I think is just ridiculous. And I think these ties
explain it, because these figures that he is connected to
are linked to these criminal networks that are involved in
the drug trade.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
And of course this makes it impossible to hold China
to account, you know, for anything, because if they're the
ones holding all the leverage over us, then you know
what leverage do we have to hold them?
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Yeah? Yeah, and they understand how to use that leverage effectively.
If we lose this contest to China, it will not
be because they have a better system or they are
a better people. It will be because our leadership sold
out and has not served us.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Well, let's take a quick commercial break more with Peter
Schweizer on the other side, talk a little bit about
when you look at TikTok.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
I'm of two minds with TikTok. One I don't think
it's ever going to get banned.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
So part of me thinks, Okay, we need to meet
voters where they are, and a lot of those voters
are on TikTok. The other part knows that, you know,
China spying on us through its ownership over by Dance.
But then I also you know our own government spying
on us, including the Post Office. So you know, get
into kind of your take took your take on TikTok
(12:52):
and kind of what information they're they're taking from us,
and how you know they're leveraging it.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Well, you know, it's interesting because you're quite right, Lisa,
we're having this debate in this country about TikTok and
its role. There's no debate in China about this in
terms of TikTok in the United States. I quote in
the book extensively from Chinese military officials, officials with the
Ministry of Propaganda. I look at how ByteDance, the parent
(13:19):
company of TikTok is run, and who's running it, and
they all speak openly amongst themselves in these documents, in
these articles about how TikTok is the trojan horse that
they are able to use to undermine particularly young people
in the United States and use it as a propaganda vehicle.
(13:39):
One Chinese military official calls it the ultimate trojan horse.
Others describe and intimate detail how you use it as
a medium and how they are using it as a
medium to manipulate young people in America. You know, I'm
not talking about propaganda of you know, placards of Chairman
Mao and marching martial music with PLA soldiers. This is
(14:04):
very very subtle stuff, but it's sophisticated stuff designed to
appeal particularly to the emotion of young people. And they
talk about how the power of emotion on TikTok is
such that young people, you know, get emotionally moved by
things they are seeing on TikTok uh and they believe
(14:27):
that that is righteous indignation that they themselves have developed.
What these propagandas say is know that we can manipulate them.
We are manipulating them, and once they believe it's righteous indignation,
they now become malleable. We can manipulate their attitudes and
their views on other things. They're very explicit about this.
So my view is that it's not just that it's
(14:50):
a spy application. It is a conveyor belt of propaganda
and propaganda that's highly sophisticated. So I agree with you, you
can't ban it. Something else will emerge. I do believe
that forcing the sale to an American company is not ideal, uh,
but it is a better solution. I would rather have
(15:12):
an American company that is subject to you know, our
regulation and and and uh uh, you know, disclosure, with
the right political leadership, then have this powerful app controlled
by a company that is led by people who worked
at the Chinese Ministry of Propaganda and who are working
closely with the Chinese Ministry of State Security.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Well, I mean, you know, even if you mentioned the
trans issue and connection to China, I mean, even if
you look at that issue, you know alone, the higher
percentage of young people who are mutilating their bodies, you know,
also leads to population decreases and a variety of other
issues as well, mentally unhealthy you know, young people that
turn into mentally unhealthy adults, you know it. So even
(15:55):
that issue alone has done great damage to our country.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Yeah, no, you're You're right, and I think they've zeroed
in on that. There. There's a lot that I discussed
in the book about how the most radical groups that
led the most violent protests in twenty twenty on BLM
and are now leading the most violent pro Hamas protests
are two groups called FRSO and PSL. And these are
(16:20):
groups that have deep, abiding ties to China. Some of
it is financially flows through a billionaire based in China.
And what they do, Lisa, is they try to take
an issue and push it to its most extreme because
they know that it's divisive. So during the twenty twenty protests,
(16:40):
there were people out there saying, you know, I'm concerned
about you know, are the police, you know, treating when
they pull over a young black man? Are they treating
them the right way? Okay, you can have that fair conversation,
that's fine. But what these groups were doing instead was
causing riots and saying all cops are racists. Abolish the police.
(17:00):
When it comes to the situation the Middle East. I
certainly side with Israel, but for people who you know,
are more let's say, idealistic in the sense of saying,
I just want to have peace. Maybe out there protesting,
these groups are not saying they want peace. They are
avowedly pro Hamas. So they are designing these protests to
(17:20):
sow social division. China's backing these organizations. These organizations have
pledged their fealty to China, and it's one of the
reasons we have a lot of social tumult in our
country is precisely because these organizations that are working and
being supported by China, you know, and.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
As China distracts us with, you know, all these internal
divisions that were well, I guess externally driven, internal driven,
you know, issues that we're facing. What are they planning for,
you know, behind the scenes.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Yeah, no, it's a great question. They call it disintegration Warfare.
It was a book published by military officers in twenty ten.
It's been adopted by President g and Disintegration Warfare basically says,
let's defeat the United States without actually firing a shot.
That's the mark of a truly great strategist. It's straight
(18:16):
out of the old ancient strategist Sun Zoo, the hallmark
of a great strategist who defeats the enemy without fighting him.
So that is their goal. It is absolutely, as you say,
a discraction, but it is also a hope that they
can so diminish and throw the United States into chaos
that the United States will basically fragment socially. You look
(18:40):
at the violence in American streets. I mean, I'll highlight
the fact that since twenty eighteen, the Chinese have been
smuggling into the United States these small devices, highly illegal
called glock switches or auto sear switches, and Lisa, what
these do is they convert an ordinary handgun into a
machine gun. A convert a glockhand gun into a machine gun.
(19:03):
The Chinese specifically targeted these at criminal gangs and organizations
in the United States. This is designed to show chaos
on our streets and it's working. A lot of American
cities now have machine gun fire in a way that
we haven't seen since the nineteen thirties, and the police
are are now outgunned. China's been doing this since twenty eighteen.
(19:24):
It's part of a concerted strategy in sowing chaos and
again the ultimate goal is the disintegration of the United States.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Quick break more on how China controls our country. Was
COVID released intentionally or unintentionally by China?
Speaker 3 (19:42):
It's hard to say. I would say the safer guests
would be it was probably unintentional, But as I lay
out in the book, they did a whole host of
things once they knew what they were dealing with to
maximize the body count in the United States. So we
now know that in November of twenty nineteen, they knew
they had a virus, and they also, Lisa knew that
(20:02):
this virus was transmittable from person to person, but they
didn't tell the West that part until the end of January,
so they almost had three months where they knew that
this was transferred from person to person before they told
the rest of the world. What did they do. They
cornered the market on protective masks and medical supplies. I'm
(20:25):
not talking about the cloth masks they were telling everybody
to wear. I'm talking about the K ninety five masks
that our medical personnel used when they were treating people
with COVID. The Chinese bought all of that up from
around the world, so when they finally told us that
was not available. That's why there was a shortage. They
did that intentionally because they wanted to maximize the damage
(20:48):
and the effect that this illness had of the United States.
And there are multiple other examples of things that they
did to ensure that our body count would be much
higher than it was.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
It's that's kind of what my landed thinking too. But obviously,
you know, you've done a lot more research into it
than I have. You know, I've read the other day
of the US government has launched an investigation into national
security risk posed by foreign made vehicles, particularly from China,
and also with you know, electric vehicles, especially as vehicles.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Become more computerized.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Well, first of all, I worry that our own government
is gonna, you know, try to use it to spy
on us and do whatever else.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
But how big of a concern is that to you?
Speaker 1 (21:29):
And and sort of what are the different tools that
China uses to spy on Americans.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
It's a great question. They use every really conceivable tool,
and they want information about us. They want also want
information about our DNA. During COVID testing, for example, during
the pandemic, a lot of tests were being done and
that data was being shared with Chinese companies and the
(21:57):
Chinese government. They were actually doing COVID tests of White
House personnel and the Trump White House, and that DNA
information of White House personnel was actually shared with a
Chinese own company. And the Chinese are collecting that information.
So they want information because it gives them the ability
to control. It also gives them the ability informs their
(22:18):
ability to create future weapons. What's so disconcerting I think
about the pandemic is not just the loss of people
and the loss of freedom that we experienced, but that
this creates a whole new benchmarks for weapons. And the
Chinese are known to be researching right now genetic weapons
(22:38):
that would profile people with certain genetic profiles. In other words,
you could literally say I want to create a weapon
and I want to only kill Ashkenazi Jews, or I
only want to kill these strain of people from Norway.
That's how specific and precise they can become. So I
(23:00):
us the Chinese government, I distrust, you know, our federal
government to collect that data. But when you have that data,
it gives you information, it gives you power, and as
China has demonstrated, they have ill intentions towards the United States,
So we should be very concerned about any mechanism they
have to collect information on us.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
No, that is extremely terrifying, you know.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
I think one way, you know, you look at these
college campuses which you had mentioned earlier, and all the
craziness there one I think diversity, I could inclusion all
that nonsense. But also there's a lot of foreign money
going into our schools and a lot of these universities
and colleges failed to report it. To what role has
China influenced or educational outcomes via you know, donations and
(23:50):
money flowing into higher education.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
They've had enormous effect, especially on certain campuses. A Yale University,
for example, their biggest donor is a guy named Joe Sai.
He's the co founder of Ali Baba, which is the
Amazon of China. Is also a government sorry, a company
that is closely wedded to the Chinese state. In fact,
(24:14):
some people believe it's actually owned by the Chinese government outright,
even though it's a publicly traded company. But Joe Sai
has given a lot of money to Yale, and there
are people at Yale Universities, faculty members and students alike
that says you can't talk about certain things, you cannot
talk about openly about the treatment of the wakers. Yale
(24:35):
will suppress that information. So it's an enormous concern and
enormous problem. And this is the lever that China always uses.
They use it on our politicians, they use it on
our college campuses. And we don't know the full extent
of the problem, Lisa, because in Joe size case, Joe
Sai's you know, twenty billion dollar plus fortune is because
(24:57):
of Ali Baba, which is linked at the hip with
the state. But Jo Sai set up a foundation in California,
and he claims and Yale claims that the money comes
from the California Foundation, so it's not even listed as
Chinese money per se. He has another foundation set up
in the Isle of Guernsey, which is a tax shelter
(25:20):
off the British coast. He's donated money from Yale, So
money that should be showing up as coming from China
is actually showing that it's coming from Guernsey. So there
are ways they mask so we don't know the full
extent of how much Chinese money is flowing into these campuses.
But there needs to be full, honest and clear disclosure
(25:41):
in those cases, there should not be these deceptive practices,
and we should be made aware of what foreign money
is flowing to these schools. There should be open disclosure.
They're required to do so according to a nineteen sixty
five Department of Education law, but a lot of the
universities don't honor their requirements under that law and simply
(26:02):
don't disclose it.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
No, that's I mean, because you would think that if
they're giving money to the schools, they're getting something out
of that. And we already know how China, you know,
uses access to the market to control movies and what's
in movies and all those different things. Can EDNY American
company do business with or in China without being compromised.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
I don't think so. I mean, you know, look, if
you're a at least if you're a potato chip company
and you get compromised, okay, you know, I don't know
that that's a huge problem. But when you're talking about
technology and you're talking about companies that are involved in
engineering and computers and chips and artificial intelligence, the consequences
(26:46):
are absolutely enormous. And no, you cannot operate in China,
they will leverage the position and you have to be
prepared to walk away, and these companies aren't. They think
the money's too good, so they're prepared to to essentially
compromise themselves for the benefit of access to that market.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Well, I think that's one of the really sad things
that I mean, you know, we've always kind of known it,
but I think especially during COVID, we all kind of
learned that everything is profit driven. None of it's about
our health, none of it's about our inter or best
interest or America's best interest. You know. It's the bottom
line is always money and greed for the people in
(27:26):
charge it, it seems, which is sad.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
What do you hope people take away from this book.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Well, I think there's a couple of things. First of all,
I think we have to be alert and aware of
what's going on. I wrote this book because initially I
was looking at so many things happening in this country,
the domestic violence, the social division, the chaos, and I
wondered what was going on and realize that, yeah, there
are divisions in this country. I'm not minimizing that, but
(27:55):
China is absolutely exacerbating them. So the first thing is
awayareness of what's going on and who is doing this
to us. The second part is to recognize those leaders
that are failing us, that will not talk about this.
I mean, this is not just corruption that's putting money
in the pockets and politicians. This is corruption with real consequence.
(28:18):
It has a body count associated with it. If there's
grounds for optimism, I would say, Lisa, I think if
you read the book, you're going to be shocked and
upset by what China is doing, what our leaders are doing.
But I think you're also going to come away with
the fact that perhaps we are not quite as divided
as we all think we are. China is absolutely fanning
(28:38):
the flames. They're doing so they run millions of social
media accounts in the West posing as Americans. I described
this in the book. Half of them basically say America
is a hopelessly racist bigot in society. The other half
basically say I only like white people. They're doing this
to try to magnify divisions that I don't think are
(28:59):
as severe as they actually are among ordinary people. So
there's grounds for optimism here, I think as well.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
All right, well, we always try to have some of
that on the show. It can get pretty dark out there, Peter,
as you.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
Know, yes, so you're saying there's a chance, Peter Schrowvisor,
it's always I always enjoy having you come on the show.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
You're always just the wealth of information.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
You do so much research and we just always appreciate
you bringing that to the show. So just thank you
so much for your time, and thanks for writing the
book and bringing our attention to an issue that's really important.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Well, thank you, Lisa, it's always good to be on
with you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
And that was Peter Schweizer, author of the new book
Blood Money, Why the Powerful turns at blind eye while
China kills Americans. We appreciate him making the time. Appreciate
you at home for listening. I want to think John
Cassio and my producer for putting the show together.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Until next time,
We're gonna have Peter Schweizer on the show today. He's
out with a new book called Blood Money, Why the
Powerful turns a blind eye while China Kills Americans. For
this book, him and his team of forensic investigators spent
more than two years going through a trove of restricted
Chinese military documents, data mining on American financial records, and
tracking political leaders, investments, and family businesses. So what did
(00:26):
they find? That's what we'll get into with Peter. You know,
just how much does China control or politicians, what industries
do they have a stranglehold over, and how does that
impact our lives?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
How does that impact Americans?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
All that and more with Peter Schweizer, author of the
new book Blood Money. Well, Peter, it's always great to
have you on the show. You always just have the
most interesting information, so I always do a great job
breaking it down.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
So I just really appreciate you making the.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Time absolutely and enjoy it. LI. So thanks, thanks.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So your new book, Blood Money, you talk about why
the powerful turns a blind eye? I guess you know,
we'll start with sort of the most obvious question, you know,
why do they turn a blind eye?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
It's a good question. I think there's some people in Washington,
probably the majority of them, that turn a blind eye
because they got to Washington. They kind of go along
to get along. They don't want a heavy lift. And
when you realize what China is doing to the United States,
you realize quickly you can't have a normal relationship with
this country. So part of our leadership class doesn't want
(01:37):
to do anything because they don't want to have a
difficult job. But I think there's a smaller portion, but
a significant portion that turn a blind eye because they
are financially or relationally compromised. They have relationships or have
had relationships with people that are involved in these activities.
They profited from it, either directly or indirectly, and it's
(02:01):
deeply embarrassing and you know, politically damaging for them to
address it, so they look away for those highly personal reasons.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
You know, we know that Senator Dianne Feinstein had employed
a driver for I think something like twenty years to
Chinese spy Eric Swobo had a relationship with a Chinese spy.
Did you get into to what extent and how often
that happens? You know, how many politicians are compromised in
that way?
Speaker 3 (02:31):
I think. I think there's a fair number, and they're
at very high levels. In blood money. I talk about
the bidens. I talk about the Republican leader, Senator Mitch McConnell,
Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, Adam Schiff, and there
are others, but I focus on those because they all
have important positions and roles and they have I think
(02:54):
been particularly responsible for refusing to even explore or investigator
to try to understand what China is actually doing to
this country. So those are the ones that I think
matter the most, and those are the ones that I
think have been the most silent when it comes to
these activities.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
For Mitch McConnell, you know, to what extent is he
entangled with China.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
It's pretty deep and it's pretty financial. It goes back
to nineteen ninety three when he was a senator and
married to Elaine Chow. He joined Elaine and his father
in law, James Chow for a trip to China. They
were guests of the Chinese State Shipbuilding Corporation, and basically
a bargain was struck. The Chow family made a deal
(03:42):
with the Chinese government where the Chinese government would build
the ships for their shipping business. They would finance the
construction of those ships, they would provide crews for those ships,
and they would provide contracts from Chinese state owned companies
to ship their goods around the Pacific. Really built and
made the shipping business as it exists today, foremost chipping,
(04:06):
which is the Chow family business. What that means, though, Lisa,
is that if the Senator were to make a decision
or to say things or do things that were deeply
damaging to China, they could literally destroy the shipping business overnight.
And I think that's the reason you will have Mitch McConnell,
(04:26):
you know, pay lip service to talking tough about China,
but he won't actually do anything about it. The Chinese
call this big help with a little bad mouth. They
recognize that for political viability, people like Senator McConnell have
to say tough things, but on the big important things
that matter to them most. McConnell has been quite helpful.
(04:47):
And that's just one example of how this political leverage
works and leads our leaders to be silent when they
should be, you know, honestly raising hell about what China
is doing to Americans.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
You know, we know that Biden has continuously tried to
distance himself from his son's business dealings. Is there any
ambiguity to you or are you just completely sold on
the fact that Joe Biden was involved in his Sun's
business dealings.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Well, he was involved in his Sun's business dealings. And
there's one particular deal I highlight in the book Blood
Money that I think explains why Joe Biden will not
hold China into account, will not call them out on
the issue of fentanyl. Fentanyl people focus on the Mexican
drug cartels. It's really a Chinese operation from beginning to end,
(05:36):
and I lay that out in the book. But here's
the problem for Joe Biden and why I think he
doesn't want to address that issue. A Chinese criminal gang
called UBG set up the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico and
made them the kings of fentanyl, and that fentanyl now
is the leading cause of death for Americans under the
(05:57):
age of forty five. This Chinese criminal gang UBG is
headed by a gentleman named jiang An Lowe who goes
by the name White Wolf. White Wolf's business partner in
twenty seventeen gave the Biden family in the communication, it
doesn't say Hunter gave the Biden family a five million
(06:18):
dollar forgivable interest free loan that the Bidens have never repaid.
So you essentially have Lisa one disagree of separation between
the Biden family and the fentanyl trade that is killing Americans.
I'm not suggesting Joe Biden's involved in the trade, but
that is perilously close and deeply embarrassing for the Biden family.
(06:42):
So that I think explains why Joe Biden does not
want to call out China on this issue, does not
want to challenge them for what they're doing and the
harm that it's causing Americans.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
And to what extent is China involved in our sentinel crisis.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
They are really the senior partner. The drug cartel are
the junior partner every link in this chain. China calls
the shots, so people know the precursors come from China.
Of course, they arrive at the Port of Manzanillo in Mexico.
Dea says that's ninety percent of the fentanyl precursors arrive there.
That port in Monzanillo is run by a Chinese state
(07:19):
owned company. Those precursors then ship to a town in
northern Mexico where, according to our Department of Homeland Security,
two thousand Chinese nationals live in this Mexican town, and
they turn these precursors into fentanyl, this poison that is
killing all of these Americans. Now, people that are dying
(07:40):
a fentanyl a poisoning don't know they're taking fentanyl. They
think they're taking a vikadin or an adderall or something
like that. So the drug cartels need pill presses, and
they need molds that can create make the fentanyl into
something that looks like an adderall or a vicodin. Well,
where the cartels get the pill presses and the molds,
(08:01):
they get them from the Chinese, who, according to the
Department of Whole Land Security, sell those to the drug
cartels at cost. In other words, they're not price gouging them. Now,
once they've made the fentanyl in these pills, they bring
them into the United States. The drug cartels need secure
communications because they don't want US law enforcement listening in eavesdropping.
(08:24):
They use Chinese apps and Chinese communication devices encrypted in
China because they know that the Chinese will not turn
over those communications to US law enforcement. And then Lisa
the final link in the chain is the money laundering.
Any drug cartel that is making money needs to launder
that money somewhere. And it used to be in the
(08:46):
days when it was mostly cocaine and heroin, that the
drug cartels laundered their money in Latin American banks. Today, Lisa,
they launder their money in Chinese state owned banks, and
they oftentimes use Chinese students in the United States on
education visas to do so. So, as I said, this
is a Chinese led officer operation. The drug cartels are
(09:10):
the junior partners here, and they each get out of
this what they want.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
You know, you're always covering dis government corruption over the years,
and you know, some many best selling books. When you
were researching for this one, what were some of the
examples that even stood out to you as someone who
has seen it all, so to speak, where you're like, man,
this is real, They're bad, you know, you know, give
us some examples where you were just like even you
(09:36):
were alarmed and having seen it all.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Yeah, Well, in terms of some of the active activities
of the Chinese probably the most surprising to me was
that two of the biggest funders of the trans movement
in the United States are actually Chinese based billionaires that
really surprised me. I name them in the book, describe
who they are. They are prominent people in China. And
(09:59):
what's surprise about this lease is that neither one of
them actually advocates for these positions in China itself. They
only do it in the United States, and I think
they do it to so division within our country. In
terms of the personal corruption in the United States, probably
the most surprising was Gavin Newsom, former mayor of San Francisco,
(10:20):
current governor. He has longtime ties to organize crime figures,
Chinese organized crime figures who are involved in the drug trade.
I'm not suggesting that he participates in that or that
he's involved in it, but he has struck relationships with
figures that are known to be involved with these crime syndicates,
(10:41):
and these crime synicas are known to be evolved in
the drug trade. He has benefited from those relationships. They
have certainly benefited from their ties to him, and some
of these are relationships that go years back, and there
are multitudes of them. So that was probably the biggest
surprise to me. I think anybody that reads the book,
we'll see Gavin Newsom differently after they read this book.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Well, of course that's concerning because you know, he clearly
even Stevie Wonderer can see that he wants to run
for president one day. So that's you know, that's concerning, right,
that he's got these ties.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Yeah, and it affects and it affects his judgment. I mean,
you know, California has an increase in fentanyl deaths since
twenty sixteen of over fourteen hundred percent. And yet when
Gavin Newsom went to China recently, he said he'd talked
to you about fentanyl. But in his words there was
quote no finger pointing. How you cannot point your fingers?
(11:40):
I think is just ridiculous. And I think these ties
explain it, because these figures that he is connected to
are linked to these criminal networks that are involved in
the drug trade.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
And of course this makes it impossible to hold China
to account, you know, for anything, because if they're the
ones holding all the leverage over us, then you know
what leverage do we have to hold them?
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Yeah? Yeah, and they understand how to use that leverage effectively.
If we lose this contest to China, it will not
be because they have a better system or they are
a better people. It will be because our leadership sold
out and has not served us.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Well, let's take a quick commercial break more with Peter
Schweizer on the other side, talk a little bit about
when you look at TikTok.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
I'm of two minds with TikTok. One I don't think
it's ever going to get banned.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
So part of me thinks, Okay, we need to meet
voters where they are, and a lot of those voters
are on TikTok. The other part knows that, you know,
China spying on us through its ownership over by Dance.
But then I also you know our own government spying
on us, including the Post Office. So you know, get
into kind of your take took your take on TikTok
(12:52):
and kind of what information they're they're taking from us,
and how you know they're leveraging it.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Well, you know, it's interesting because you're quite right, Lisa,
we're having this debate in this country about TikTok and
its role. There's no debate in China about this in
terms of TikTok in the United States. I quote in
the book extensively from Chinese military officials, officials with the
Ministry of Propaganda. I look at how ByteDance, the parent
(13:19):
company of TikTok is run, and who's running it, and
they all speak openly amongst themselves in these documents, in
these articles about how TikTok is the trojan horse that
they are able to use to undermine particularly young people
in the United States and use it as a propaganda vehicle.
(13:39):
One Chinese military official calls it the ultimate trojan horse.
Others describe and intimate detail how you use it as
a medium and how they are using it as a
medium to manipulate young people in America. You know, I'm
not talking about propaganda of you know, placards of Chairman
Mao and marching martial music with PLA soldiers. This is
(14:04):
very very subtle stuff, but it's sophisticated stuff designed to
appeal particularly to the emotion of young people. And they
talk about how the power of emotion on TikTok is
such that young people, you know, get emotionally moved by
things they are seeing on TikTok uh and they believe
(14:27):
that that is righteous indignation that they themselves have developed.
What these propagandas say is know that we can manipulate them.
We are manipulating them, and once they believe it's righteous indignation,
they now become malleable. We can manipulate their attitudes and
their views on other things. They're very explicit about this.
So my view is that it's not just that it's
(14:50):
a spy application. It is a conveyor belt of propaganda
and propaganda that's highly sophisticated. So I agree with you, you
can't ban it. Something else will emerge. I do believe
that forcing the sale to an American company is not ideal, uh,
but it is a better solution. I would rather have
(15:12):
an American company that is subject to you know, our
regulation and and and uh uh, you know, disclosure, with
the right political leadership, then have this powerful app controlled
by a company that is led by people who worked
at the Chinese Ministry of Propaganda and who are working
closely with the Chinese Ministry of State Security.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Well, I mean, you know, even if you mentioned the
trans issue and connection to China, I mean, even if
you look at that issue, you know alone, the higher
percentage of young people who are mutilating their bodies, you know,
also leads to population decreases and a variety of other
issues as well, mentally unhealthy you know, young people that
turn into mentally unhealthy adults, you know it. So even
(15:55):
that issue alone has done great damage to our country.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Yeah, no, you're You're right, and I think they've zeroed
in on that. There. There's a lot that I discussed
in the book about how the most radical groups that
led the most violent protests in twenty twenty on BLM
and are now leading the most violent pro Hamas protests
are two groups called FRSO and PSL. And these are
(16:20):
groups that have deep, abiding ties to China. Some of
it is financially flows through a billionaire based in China.
And what they do, Lisa, is they try to take
an issue and push it to its most extreme because
they know that it's divisive. So during the twenty twenty protests,
(16:40):
there were people out there saying, you know, I'm concerned
about you know, are the police, you know, treating when
they pull over a young black man? Are they treating
them the right way? Okay, you can have that fair conversation,
that's fine. But what these groups were doing instead was
causing riots and saying all cops are racists. Abolish the police.
(17:00):
When it comes to the situation the Middle East. I
certainly side with Israel, but for people who you know,
are more let's say, idealistic in the sense of saying,
I just want to have peace. Maybe out there protesting,
these groups are not saying they want peace. They are
avowedly pro Hamas. So they are designing these protests to
(17:20):
sow social division. China's backing these organizations. These organizations have
pledged their fealty to China, and it's one of the
reasons we have a lot of social tumult in our
country is precisely because these organizations that are working and
being supported by China, you know, and.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
As China distracts us with, you know, all these internal
divisions that were well, I guess externally driven, internal driven,
you know, issues that we're facing. What are they planning for,
you know, behind the scenes.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Yeah, no, it's a great question. They call it disintegration Warfare.
It was a book published by military officers in twenty ten.
It's been adopted by President g and Disintegration Warfare basically says,
let's defeat the United States without actually firing a shot.
That's the mark of a truly great strategist. It's straight
(18:16):
out of the old ancient strategist Sun Zoo, the hallmark
of a great strategist who defeats the enemy without fighting him.
So that is their goal. It is absolutely, as you say,
a discraction, but it is also a hope that they
can so diminish and throw the United States into chaos
that the United States will basically fragment socially. You look
(18:40):
at the violence in American streets. I mean, I'll highlight
the fact that since twenty eighteen, the Chinese have been
smuggling into the United States these small devices, highly illegal
called glock switches or auto sear switches, and Lisa, what
these do is they convert an ordinary handgun into a
machine gun. A convert a glockhand gun into a machine gun.
(19:03):
The Chinese specifically targeted these at criminal gangs and organizations
in the United States. This is designed to show chaos
on our streets and it's working. A lot of American
cities now have machine gun fire in a way that
we haven't seen since the nineteen thirties, and the police
are are now outgunned. China's been doing this since twenty eighteen.
(19:24):
It's part of a concerted strategy in sowing chaos and
again the ultimate goal is the disintegration of the United States.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Quick break more on how China controls our country. Was
COVID released intentionally or unintentionally by China?
Speaker 3 (19:42):
It's hard to say. I would say the safer guests
would be it was probably unintentional, But as I lay
out in the book, they did a whole host of
things once they knew what they were dealing with to
maximize the body count in the United States. So we
now know that in November of twenty nineteen, they knew
they had a virus, and they also, Lisa knew that
(20:02):
this virus was transmittable from person to person, but they
didn't tell the West that part until the end of January,
so they almost had three months where they knew that
this was transferred from person to person before they told
the rest of the world. What did they do. They
cornered the market on protective masks and medical supplies. I'm
(20:25):
not talking about the cloth masks they were telling everybody
to wear. I'm talking about the K ninety five masks
that our medical personnel used when they were treating people
with COVID. The Chinese bought all of that up from
around the world, so when they finally told us that
was not available. That's why there was a shortage. They
did that intentionally because they wanted to maximize the damage
(20:48):
and the effect that this illness had of the United States.
And there are multiple other examples of things that they
did to ensure that our body count would be much
higher than it was.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
It's that's kind of what my landed thinking too. But obviously,
you know, you've done a lot more research into it
than I have. You know, I've read the other day
of the US government has launched an investigation into national
security risk posed by foreign made vehicles, particularly from China,
and also with you know, electric vehicles, especially as vehicles.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Become more computerized.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Well, first of all, I worry that our own government
is gonna, you know, try to use it to spy
on us and do whatever else.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
But how big of a concern is that to you?
Speaker 1 (21:29):
And and sort of what are the different tools that
China uses to spy on Americans.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
It's a great question. They use every really conceivable tool,
and they want information about us. They want also want
information about our DNA. During COVID testing, for example, during
the pandemic, a lot of tests were being done and
that data was being shared with Chinese companies and the
(21:57):
Chinese government. They were actually doing COVID tests of White
House personnel and the Trump White House, and that DNA
information of White House personnel was actually shared with a
Chinese own company. And the Chinese are collecting that information.
So they want information because it gives them the ability
to control. It also gives them the ability informs their
(22:18):
ability to create future weapons. What's so disconcerting I think
about the pandemic is not just the loss of people
and the loss of freedom that we experienced, but that
this creates a whole new benchmarks for weapons. And the
Chinese are known to be researching right now genetic weapons
(22:38):
that would profile people with certain genetic profiles. In other words,
you could literally say I want to create a weapon
and I want to only kill Ashkenazi Jews, or I
only want to kill these strain of people from Norway.
That's how specific and precise they can become. So I
(23:00):
us the Chinese government, I distrust, you know, our federal
government to collect that data. But when you have that data,
it gives you information, it gives you power, and as
China has demonstrated, they have ill intentions towards the United States,
So we should be very concerned about any mechanism they
have to collect information on us.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
No, that is extremely terrifying, you know.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
I think one way, you know, you look at these
college campuses which you had mentioned earlier, and all the
craziness there one I think diversity, I could inclusion all
that nonsense. But also there's a lot of foreign money
going into our schools and a lot of these universities
and colleges failed to report it. To what role has
China influenced or educational outcomes via you know, donations and
(23:50):
money flowing into higher education.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
They've had enormous effect, especially on certain campuses. A Yale University,
for example, their biggest donor is a guy named Joe Sai.
He's the co founder of Ali Baba, which is the
Amazon of China. Is also a government sorry, a company
that is closely wedded to the Chinese state. In fact,
(24:14):
some people believe it's actually owned by the Chinese government outright,
even though it's a publicly traded company. But Joe Sai
has given a lot of money to Yale, and there
are people at Yale Universities, faculty members and students alike
that says you can't talk about certain things, you cannot
talk about openly about the treatment of the wakers. Yale
(24:35):
will suppress that information. So it's an enormous concern and
enormous problem. And this is the lever that China always uses.
They use it on our politicians, they use it on
our college campuses. And we don't know the full extent
of the problem, Lisa, because in Joe size case, Joe
Sai's you know, twenty billion dollar plus fortune is because
(24:57):
of Ali Baba, which is linked at the hip with
the state. But Jo Sai set up a foundation in California,
and he claims and Yale claims that the money comes
from the California Foundation, so it's not even listed as
Chinese money per se. He has another foundation set up
in the Isle of Guernsey, which is a tax shelter
(25:20):
off the British coast. He's donated money from Yale, So
money that should be showing up as coming from China
is actually showing that it's coming from Guernsey. So there
are ways they mask so we don't know the full
extent of how much Chinese money is flowing into these campuses.
But there needs to be full, honest and clear disclosure
(25:41):
in those cases, there should not be these deceptive practices,
and we should be made aware of what foreign money
is flowing to these schools. There should be open disclosure.
They're required to do so according to a nineteen sixty
five Department of Education law, but a lot of the
universities don't honor their requirements under that law and simply
(26:02):
don't disclose it.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
No, that's I mean, because you would think that if
they're giving money to the schools, they're getting something out
of that. And we already know how China, you know,
uses access to the market to control movies and what's
in movies and all those different things. Can EDNY American
company do business with or in China without being compromised.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
I don't think so. I mean, you know, look, if
you're a at least if you're a potato chip company
and you get compromised, okay, you know, I don't know
that that's a huge problem. But when you're talking about
technology and you're talking about companies that are involved in
engineering and computers and chips and artificial intelligence, the consequences
(26:46):
are absolutely enormous. And no, you cannot operate in China,
they will leverage the position and you have to be
prepared to walk away, and these companies aren't. They think
the money's too good, so they're prepared to to essentially
compromise themselves for the benefit of access to that market.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Well, I think that's one of the really sad things
that I mean, you know, we've always kind of known it,
but I think especially during COVID, we all kind of
learned that everything is profit driven. None of it's about
our health, none of it's about our inter or best
interest or America's best interest. You know. It's the bottom
line is always money and greed for the people in
(27:26):
charge it, it seems, which is sad.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
What do you hope people take away from this book.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Well, I think there's a couple of things. First of all,
I think we have to be alert and aware of
what's going on. I wrote this book because initially I
was looking at so many things happening in this country,
the domestic violence, the social division, the chaos, and I
wondered what was going on and realize that, yeah, there
are divisions in this country. I'm not minimizing that, but
(27:55):
China is absolutely exacerbating them. So the first thing is
awayareness of what's going on and who is doing this
to us. The second part is to recognize those leaders
that are failing us, that will not talk about this.
I mean, this is not just corruption that's putting money
in the pockets and politicians. This is corruption with real consequence.
(28:18):
It has a body count associated with it. If there's
grounds for optimism, I would say, Lisa, I think if
you read the book, you're going to be shocked and
upset by what China is doing, what our leaders are doing.
But I think you're also going to come away with
the fact that perhaps we are not quite as divided
as we all think we are. China is absolutely fanning
(28:38):
the flames. They're doing so they run millions of social
media accounts in the West posing as Americans. I described
this in the book. Half of them basically say America
is a hopelessly racist bigot in society. The other half
basically say I only like white people. They're doing this
to try to magnify divisions that I don't think are
(28:59):
as severe as they actually are among ordinary people. So
there's grounds for optimism here, I think as well.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
All right, well, we always try to have some of
that on the show. It can get pretty dark out there, Peter,
as you.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
Know, yes, so you're saying there's a chance, Peter Schrowvisor,
it's always I always enjoy having you come on the show.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
You're always just the wealth of information.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
You do so much research and we just always appreciate
you bringing that to the show. So just thank you
so much for your time, and thanks for writing the
book and bringing our attention to an issue that's really important.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Well, thank you, Lisa, it's always good to be on
with you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
And that was Peter Schweizer, author of the new book
Blood Money, Why the Powerful turns at blind eye while
China kills Americans. We appreciate him making the time. Appreciate
you at home for listening. I want to think John
Cassio and my producer for putting the show together.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Until next time,
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