California mayor charged with acting as illegal agent for China
City of Arcadia, councilmember, Eileen Wang attends the Asian Hall of Fame 2023 induction ceremony, October 21, 2023, in Los Angeles. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Eileen Wang, the mayor of Arcadia, California, was charged with acting as an illegal foreign agent for China, the Justice Department announced on Monday.
Wang agreed to plead guilty, the DOJ said.
The City of Arcadia said Wang resigned from her position on Monday.
Starting in late 2020, Wang and Yaoning “Mike” Sun worked together to operate a website called U.S. News Center that “purported to be a news source for the local Chinese-American community.”
The Justice Department said in a plea agreement that Wang and Sun “received and executed directives from PRC (People’s Republic of China) government officials to post pro-PRC content on the website, and sometimes sought approval from PRC government officials to circulate other pro-PRC content.”
In one instance in November 2021, Wang wanted to circulate an article about the Chinese and Russian ambassador asking for Americans to respect the PRC’s “democratic rights.”
“This is what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to send,” she said.
In her plea agreement she admitted to not notifying the attorney general that she was working for the PRC.
“Individuals elected to public office in the United States should act only for the people of the United States that they represent,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. “It is deeply concerning that someone who previously received and executed directives from PRC government officials is now in a position of public trust at all, but particularly so because that relationship with that foreign government had never been disclosed.”
Sen. Mark Kelly walks past Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine before the start of a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, April 30, 2026. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon will review whether Sen. Mark Kelly improperly disclosed classified information when the Arizona Democrat and retired Navy captain raised concerns about the strain the war with Iran has placed on U.S. weapons stockpiles.
Hegseth, in a social media post Sunday evening, blasted Kelly for “blabbing on TV” after the senator appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that morning and discussed strains on the Pentagon’s ammunition inventory.
“‘Captain’ Mark Kelly strikes again,” Hegseth posted. “Now he’s blabbing on TV (falsely & dumbly) about a *CLASSIFIED* Pentagon briefing he received. Did he violate his oath … again? @DeptofWar legal counsel will review.”
During the CBS interview, Kelly pointed to recent open-door Pentagon briefings to Congress, which he says outlined that U.S. stockpiles of key munitions, including Tomahawk and ATACMS missiles, are being rapidly depleted amid the war with Iran.
A Pentagon review of Kelly’s comments would mark the second time Hegseth has sought to punish him, the first being after Kelly and several other Democratic military and intelligence service veterans posted a video advising U.S. troops to not follow illegal orders. Hegseth sought to demote Kelly, which would reduce his military pension.
A three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals expressed skepticism over Hegseth’s effort to punish Kelly over the comments during oral arguments last week.
The Pentagon says it has hit some 13,000 targets in the war with Iran. In some cases, those targets may need to be hit several times, it said. Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst III told lawmakers in late April that the war had cost at least $25 billion to that point, noting that much of that was for munitions use.
“It’s shocking how deep we’ve gone into these magazines,” Kelly said.
Following Hegseth’s threat, Kelly responded on social media, showing a clip from last week’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in which Hegseth is shown saying it would take years to replenish stockpiles to pre-war levels.
“We had this conversation in a public hearing a week ago and you said it would take ‘years’ to replenish some of these stockpiles,” Kelly said. “That’s not classified, it’s a quote from you.”
An analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that the U.S. has used half of its inventory of munitions fighting Iran, and that it could take up to four years for the pre-war stock to be rearmed.
The Pentagon briefs members of Congress on classified materials behind closed doors, but it’s unclear whether Kelly violated any disclosure laws, as he did not get into specifics on the volume of weapons used or remaining in the CBS interview.
Hegseth has insisted the U.S. has sufficient ammunition to sustain fighting against Iran, though much of the anxiety inside defense circles is centered less on Tehran and more on the Pentagon’s ability to respond to another major conflict.
“That means the American people are less safe. Whether it’s a conflict with China or somewhere else in the world, the munitions are depleted,” Kelly said on CBS.
The Pentagon had already been grappling with mounting concerns over its weapon stockpiles and how quickly industry can replenish munitions, with the war with Iran dramatically exacerbating those concerns.
Those concerns come as the Pentagon pushes for a historic $1.5 trillion defense budget next year, roughly a 50% increase over current spending levels, with a significant share earmarked for munitions production and cheaper, mass-produced drone systems. But the spending plan was largely finalized before the war started and does not fully account for the strain the war is placing on U.S. inventories.
U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff questions U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi as she testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on October 7, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Win Mcnamee/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Adam Schiff of California and a group of fellow Democrats are launching a probe into Freedom 250, a new non-profit group closely aligned with President Donald Trump that is raising private funding for high-profile events surrounding America’s 250th birthday this summer.
Freedom 250 — a nonprofit subsidiary of the National Park Foundation, the congressionally chartered fundraising arm of the National Park Service — was announced by the White House X account in December 2025, as an alternative for the congressionally chartered “America250” commission that is planned to celebrate the nation’s birthday this year.
The New York Times is reporting on allegations that the Freedom250 group is exchanging access to Trump for donations, and concerns have been raised in Congress about the arrangement between the group’s donations and their political fundraising.
Schiff’s inquiry, first shared with ABC News, raises concerns about the large sums of private donations and alleged “pay-to-play” access implications involved in the Freedom 250 effort.
When asked to respond to Schiff’s inquiry, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said, “President Trump is ensuring that America gets the spectacular birthday it deserves. The celebration of America’s 250th anniversary is going to display great patriotism in our Nation’s Capital and throughout the country.”
Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen, Cory Booker, Richard Blumenthal, Elizabeth Warren, Dick Durbin and Gary Peters joined Schiff in sending a letter on Wednesday to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, demanding the White House produce a list of Freedom 250 donors and describing any benefits, access, recognition or other consideration donors have received or been promised related to their contributions.
The senators raised concern that the potential coordination between the Trump administration and Freedom 250 could violate federal bribery, conflict of interest and ethics statutes. Schiff’s inquiry is also asking for an explanation on the ethical guidance the group received from the Office of Government Ethics or White House ethics officials.
“It is imperative that Congress and the public understand how decisions are made, who exercises control, and what guardrails exist to prevent inappropriate donor influence. Absent clear rules, this structure risks blurring the line between legitimate civic fundraising and pay‑for‑play access tied to official government functions, an all too familiar feature of the current Administration,” the senators wrote.
Trump — who repeatedly promised on the campaign trail a grand celebration for America’s 250th birthday that would be comparable to past world’s fairs — announced Freedom250 in December as a public-private partnership to spearhead the festivities.
On Tuesday, congressional Democrats accused the Trump administration of trying to alter plans to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday and using the National Park Foundation to solicit money from private donors.
Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman claimed “Trump and his Freedom 250 party planners are working to obscure reality with a fake narrative.”
“America250 could have been an honest celebration. Trump didn’t have control over the congressionally charted nonpartisan organization leading the celebration,” Huffman said, adding that Trump is working to “monetize it.”
During a hearing in the House Natural Resources Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, Jeff Reinbold, the foundation’s president and CEO, promised anonymity to donors who requested it. Reinbold also said he would not provide Congress with any contracts signed by Freedom 250 donors.
Democratic Rep. Maxine Dexter claims Freedom 250 is using public money meant to go to America250, which was created in 2016. Dexter asserted that Freedom 250 is co-mingling fundraising for Trump with private donations for the nation’s birthday celebrations.
“This leaves us all guessing which one of Donald Trump’s billionaire buddies and which foreign interests are buying access,” Dexter said.
Rob Bonta, attorney general of California, from left, Kris Mayes, Arizona’s attorney general, and Dan Rayfield, Oregons attorney general, speak to members of the media outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Homeland Security’s investigations arm is investigating 2020 election results in Arizona, the state’s attorney general, Kris Mayes, and a source familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News on Tuesday.
It is not typical for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to investigate election results, though the agency has investigated voter fraud cases in the past. The agency serves as the investigative arm of DHS and usually investigates transnational crime, including drug smuggling and human trafficking.
Mayes, a Democrat, told ABC News in a statement, “The Trump administration is engaged in an unserious investigation into an election that took place six years ago based on nothing but conspiracy theories and lies. At the request of local leadership at Homeland Security Investigations, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office provided them with public records from the 2020 election investigation conducted under the prior Attorney General, Mark Brnovich. We were happy to share them, because those materials speak for themselves.”
The investigation by Brnovich, Mayes added, included “10,000 hours investigating every claim made by election deniers, from bamboo ballots imported from China to Italian spy satellites flipping votes to President Biden” and found no evidence to support any of the allegations.
“Those conclusions were true then and they remain true now. There was no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election in Arizona,” Mayes wrote.
A separate source confirmed to ABC News that it’s believed HSI communicated the investigation to the attorney general a week after outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited an HSI office in Arizona in February.
When Noem visited Arizona in February, she was asked by reporters to identify cases of voter fraud in the state.
“I’m sure there are many of them,” she responded, without providing specifics.
A DHS spokesperson told ABC News the department could not comment on “any active investigations,” but said that HSI “is actively rooting out and investigating election fraud wherever it can be found. We have repeatedly demonstrated that illegal aliens can and do vote in our elections. Under President Trump, HSI is committed to restoring integrity to our election systems and ensuring that American citizens and only American citizens are electing American leaders.”
The Atlantic first reported the HSI investigation.
It is unclear if the HSI investigation is connected to a subpoena from the Trump administration of records related to the 2020 election in Arizona’s Maricopa County, which Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen confirmed on Monday. (The Atlantic reported that the state attorney general’s office did not believe the investigations were connected.)
The records sought under the subpoena are related to the Arizona state Senate’s audit of Maricopa County’s 2020 election results, conducted by cybersecurity firm Cyber Ninjas in 2021. That audit came to the same conclusion election officials in Maricopa County did — that President Joe Biden won the county. Both the Maricopa County Elections office and the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office told ABC News on Monday that they have not received subpoenas.
Despite the Trump administration’s efforts to relitigate the 2020 election, Biden won the election by 7 million votes, including winning six out of the seven battleground states. The overall electoral count was 306 to 232.
The investigation in Arizona comes after the FBI seized 2020 voting records from Fulton County, Georgia, while serving a search warrant in January. Fulton County officials have sought to have the files returned, arguing to a judge the FBI probe lacked “even the faintest possibility of probable cause.”
Election results in Georgia and Arizona, more broadly, have both been at the center of election conspiracies about the 2020 election.
