Was President Obama’s Ambassador to Ukraine unlawfully tracking
articles, reports, and social media postings of conservatives? Our
Corruption Chronicles blog has the story.

[WEEKLY UPDATE]

JW INVESTIGATES STATE DEPT. MONITORING JOURNALISTS AND UNIVERSITY
GIVES CHINESE COMMUNISTS FUNDING

[[link removed]]


JUDICIAL WATCH INVESTIGATES IF OBAMA AMBASSADOR ORDERED MONITORING OF
JOURNALISTS, TRUMP ALLIES

Was President Obama’s Ambassador to Ukraine unlawfully tracking
articles, reports, and social media postings of conservatives? Our
Corruption Chronicles blog has the story
[[link removed]].


Judicial Watch is investigating if prominent conservative figures,
journalists and persons with ties to President Donald Trump were
unlawfully monitored by the State Department in Ukraine at the request
of ousted U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, an Obama appointee.
Yovanovitch testified “in secret” to the House impeachment inquiry
against Trump on Friday, October 11, 2019. Her “secret” testimony
was leaked to the New York Times during the hearing.

Judicial Watch has obtained information indicating Yovanovitch may
have violated laws and government regulations by ordering subordinates
to target certain U.S. persons using State Department resources.
Yovanovitch reportedly ordered monitoring keyed to the following
search terms: Biden, Giuliani, Soros and Yovanovitch. Judicial Watch
has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request
[[link removed]]
with
the State Department and will continue gathering facts from government
sources.

Prior to being recalled as ambassador to Ukraine in the spring
Yovanovitch reportedly created a list of individuals who were to be
monitored via social media and other means. Ukraine embassy staff
made the request to the Washington D.C. headquarters office of the
department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs
[[link removed]].
After several days, Yovanovitch’s staff was informed that the
request was illegal and the monitoring either ceased or was concealed
via the State Department Global Engagement Center
[[link removed]],
which has looser restrictions on collecting information.

“This is not an obscure rule; everyone in public diplomacy or public
affairs knows they can’t make lists and monitor U.S. citizens unless
there is a major national security reason,” according to a senior
State Department official. If the illicit operation occurred, it seems
to indicate a clear political bias against the president and his
supporters. Yovanovitch, a career diplomat who has also led American
embassies in Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, was appointed ambassador to
Ukraine by Obama in 2016. She was recalled by the State Department in
May and remains a State Department employee in Washington D.C.

In the public records request
[[link removed]]
to
the State Department, Judicial Watch asks for any and all records
regarding, concerning, or related to the monitoring of any U.S.-based
journalist, reporter, or media commentator by any employee or office
of the Department of State between January 1, 2019 and the present.
That includes all records pertaining to the scope of the monitoring to
be conducted and individuals subject to it as well as records
documenting the information collected pursuant to the monitoring. The
FOIA request also asks for all records of communication between any
official, employee or representative of the State Department and any
other individual or entity.

The prominent conservative figures — journalists and persons with
ties to President Donald Trump — allegedly unlawfully monitored by
the State Department in Ukraine at the request of ousted U.S.
Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch include:

Jack Posobiec
Donald Trump Jr.
Laura Ingraham
Sean Hannity
Michael McFaul (Obama’s ambassador to Russia)
Dan Bongino
Ryan Saavedra
Rudy Giuliani
Sebastian Gorka
John Solomon
Lou Dobbs
Pamella Geller
Sara Carter

Judicial Watch continues its investigation of these matters and will
update its reporting as the situation unfolds.
Listen to my interviews on this subject here
[[link removed]],
here
[[link removed]]
and here
[[link removed]].

UNIVERSITY FUNDS AND GIVES INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS TO CHINESE
INSTITUTE

We need a new accounting for our public universities, whose use of
taxpayer dollars so often seems to defy the best interests of the
taxpayers. Take the University of Arizona. It receives substantial
funding
[[link removed]]
from the State of Arizona, as well as federal grants.

Our _Corruption Chronicles_ blog reveals
[[link removed]]
a few ways your tax and tuition money is being spent.

In the midst of a human rights crisis and violent pro-democracy
manifestations in China, Judicial Watch has obtained records that
expose a troubling partnership between a public American university
and the Chinese Communists at the heart of the abuses. The records
show that the University of Arizona (UA), a taxpayer-funded
institution with an enrollment of about 44,000, paid $100,000 to
launch a Confucius Institute on its Tucson campus more than a decade
ago and subsequently dedicated nearly $2 million and other public
resources to keep it going. Confucius Institutes were founded by the
Chinese government and are managed by China’s Ministry of Education
to spread Communist ideas. FBI Director Christopher Wray has warned
in congressional testimony
[[link removed]]
that
Confucius Institutes provide a platform to disseminate Chinese
Communist Party propaganda, encourage censorship and restrict academic
freedom.

Yet dozens of universities throughout the U.S. have erected Confucius
Institutes in the last few years, though many have closed over
national security concerns and pressure from the Trump administration.
This year the U.S. government finally upped the ante, threatening to
withhold generous Department of Defense (DOD) language program funding
to schools with Confucius Institutes. UA is among the campuses that
reportedly will shut down its Confucius Institute at the end of the
year to keep its DOD money, but the school’s longtime support for
the Communist program cannot be erased from the ledgers. The campus
allocated $100,000 in “initial start-up funds” to launch a
Confucius Institute in 2007, according to a document
[[link removed]
by Judicial Watch through an Arizona Public Records request. In the
following years, UA dedicated at least $1.9 million to the Communist
installation through various campus clubs and organizations
[[link removed]],
the
records show. The figure is likely much higher because school
officials claim they did not keep records
[[link removed]]
of
Confucius Institute funding or activities prior to 2012. Therefore, UA
provided Judicial Watch with “the most complete records available
beginning January 2012 to September 2019.”

Written in Chinese and English, the original agreement is between the
Arizona Board of Regents and the People’s Republic of China. It is
signed by former UA President Robert N. Shelton on behalf of the board
and Lin Xu, identified in the document as chief executive of the
Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban), People’s Republic of
China. The contract allots UA employees paid positions within the
Confucius Institute and provides the Chinese establishment with
offices, classrooms, equipment, operating supplies and funding,
instructors, guest lecturers, administrative services and other
assorted resources. It also provides the Confucius Institute with
exclusive rights to intellectual concepts, trademarks and inventions.
A continuation agreement
[[link removed]]
signed
in 2013 is marked “confidential” and renews automatically unless
the parties want out. Under threat of losing DOD funding, UA
reluctantly decided to close its Confucius Institute at the end of the
year, according to university sources contacted by Judicial Watch.
Nevertheless, from 2012 to 2019 the records show that there were more
than 400 university approved events and classes with the Confucius
Institute.

The longtime partnership between a public U.S. institution of higher
learning and Chinese Communists is outrageous, especially considering
the myriad of threats—military, economic and human rights—posed by
China. Lately human rights have been at the forefront of global media
coverage with violent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Chinese
President Xi Jinping recently said that any attempts to cause division
in China “will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones
[[link removed]
Though
the human rights crisis is receiving a lot of attention, China’s
economic threat to the U.S. is not to be minimized. The FBI
routinely investigates
[[link removed]]
the
theft of intellectual property and trade secrets by the People’s
Republic of China from the United States. The crimes include but are
not limited to medical devices, computer intrusions, false statements
and transportation software. More recently, the Trump
administration killed
[[link removed]]
a
decades-long contract between the Obama administration and China that
allowed the Communists to control the second-busiest container port in
the U.S.
Earlier this year, Judicial Watch filed suit
[[link removed]],
seeking information about potential influence by the Qatar
government’s funding of certain Texas A&M University programs and a
Texas A&M campus in Education City, Al Rayyan, Qatar (_Qatar
Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development v. Ken
Paxton, Texas Attorney General_
[[link removed]]
(No.
D-1-GN-18-006240)).

Watching our universities is turning out to be quite the eye-opener!

Until next week …





[Contribute]
[[link removed]]


<a
href="[link removed]"
target="_blank"><img alt="WU02"
src="[link removed]"
style="width:100%; height:auto;" /></a>

[32x32x1]
[[link removed]]

[32x32x2]
[[link removed]]

[32x32x3]
[[link removed]]

[32x32x3]
[[link removed]]

Judicial Watch, Inc.
425 3rd St Sw Ste 800
Washington, DC 20024

202.646.5172



©2017-2019, All Rights Reserved
Manage Email Subscriptions
[[link removed]]
|
Unsubscribe
[[link removed]]

View in browser
[[link removed]]