After her top aide was arrested for being a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spy, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) is desperately trying to avoid being held responsible for keeping her on staff for years — claiming that she was “shocked” and “furious” to learn about her actions.
Hochul’s comments came after 41-year-old Linda Sun and her husband, 40-year-old Chris Hu, were arrested for allegedly violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), visa fraud, smuggling, and money laundering, among other charges. According to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) indictment, Sun used her positions as Hochul’s deputy chief of staff and senior aide to disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to assist her husband’s medical equipment business in securing profits from the COVID pandemic. She is also accused of accepting gifts in exchange for improving the relationship between New York and communist China.
We demand answers from Governor Hochul and Andrew Cuomo, for hiring an agent of the Communist Chinese Party to have high level access and decision making for YEARS in their administrations. Sun was originally promoted under Cuomo, because she brings in CCP money! Under Hochul and… pic.twitter.com/teYB556L1j
— Curtis Sliwa (@CurtisSliwa) September 3, 2024
Sun was hired by Cuomo in 2012 and served in several different senior positions throughout his time as governor, while Hochul — who was previously Cuomo’s lieutenant governor — appointed her as her deputy chief of staff after she took office in 2021 when Cuomo was pushed out over sexual harassment allegations.
The charges against Governor Hochul’s deputy chief of staff are serious, disturbing & show just how far Communist China will go to spy and influence American policy. Whether its infiltrating our colleges, opening “police stations” to spy on Chinese-Americans who fled the CCP,… pic.twitter.com/l8E4ZojEYl
— Office of Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (@RepMalliotakis) September 3, 2024
Speaking with WNYC’s Sean Carlson on Tuesday afternoon, Hochul claimed: “I’m furious and I’m outraged and I’m absolutely shocked at how brazen her behavior was.”
Hochul has maintained that she was completely unaware of Sun being an agent of communist China, claiming that it “was a betrayal of trust.”
She has also repeatedly insisted that she should not face any blame for hiring Sun.
“This individual was hired by the executive chamber more than a decade ago. We terminated her employment in March 2023 after discovering evidence of misconduct, immediately reported her actions to law enforcement and have assisted law enforcement throughout this process,” a Hochul spokesperson claimed in a statement issued early Tuesday.
Hochul further argued that she has been doing everything possible to investigate how Sun was able to evade being discovered as a spy for so long.
“We’ve been working with the Department of Justice in this investigation, and we’ll continue to make sure that all the information that’s out there is revealed and that justice is served,” she said.
Meanwhile, Cuomo has said very little about the scandal, other than questioning Hochul’s judgment in promoting the Chinese spy.
“National security is critical and must be free from foreign influence,” Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said in a statement, according to the New York Post.
“While Ms. Sun was promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff in the subsequent administration, during our time she worked in a handful of agencies and was one of many community liaisons who had little to no interaction with the governor,” the statement continued.
