Can Trump strip Musk and Mamdani of their US citizenship?
US President Donald Trump and officials from his administration have hinted that they might consider revoking the US citizenship of Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s Democratic mayoral candidate. Separately, Trump said former aide Elon Musk would have to “close up shop and head back home to South Africa” amid a row over his tax breaks and Trump’s narrowly passed spending bill. But would the Trump administration have the power to revoke the citizenship of Mamdani and Musk, both foreign-born, naturalised citizens of the US? What is the immigration status of Mamdani and Musk? Mamdani, 33, was born in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, to ethnically Indian parents. He moved to New York at the age of seven and became a naturalised US citizen in 2018. Musk was born in 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa to a Canadian mother and South African father. At the age of 17, he moved to Canada of where he is also a citizen. In 1992, he moved to the US to study at the University of Pennsylvania. He became a naturalised US citizen in 2002, according to a biography of him written in 2023 by journalist Walter Isaacson. In October 2024, the Washington Post reported that Musk began his career in the US without the proper work authorisation, but Musk has denied this. “I was in fact allowed to work in the US,” Musk wrote in an X post on the same day the report was published. “I was on a J-1 visa that transitioned to an H1-B,” Musk wrote in another post. A J-1 visa is a temporary visa for foreign students, while an H-1B is a temporary work visa. Advertisement To become naturalised as a US citizen, an individual needs to be above the age of 18 and to have lived continuously in the US as a green card holder for five years, or three years if they are married to a US citizen. What has the Trump administration said about Mamdani? Andy Ogles, a Republican Tennessee representative, wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi on June 26, asking for the Department of Justice to probe whether Mamdani, who identifies as a democratic socialist, should be subject to denaturalisation proceedings. Posting a copy of the letter to Bondi on his X page, Ogles wrote: “Zohran ‘little muhammad’ Mamdani is an antisemitic, socialist, communist who will destroy the great City of New York. He needs to be DEPORTED. Which is why I am calling for him to be subject to denaturalization proceedings.” Ogles said that the investigation should be conducted on the grounds that Mamdani may have procured US citizenship through “willful misrepresentation or concealment of material support for terrorism.” The Tennessee Republican cited reports, including an article published in the New York Post, stating that Mamdani expressed solidarity with “individuals convicted of terrorism-related offenses prior to becoming a US citizen.” Ogles said that Mamdani rapped “Free the Holy Land Five / My guys.” “The Holy Land Foundation was convicted in 2008 for providing material support to Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization. Publicly praising the Foundation’s convicted leadership as ‘my guys’ raises serious concerns about whether Mr. Mamdani held affiliations or sympathies he failed to disclose during the naturalization process,” Ogles wrote in his letter to Bondi. “Moreover, Mr. Mamdani has recently refused opportunities to reject the pro-terrorist rallying cry to ‘globalize the intifada’ a call to expand violent attacks on civilians to the United States and around the world,” Ogles wrote. Zohran “little muhammad” Mamdani is an antisemitic, socialist, communist who will destroy the great City of New York. He needs to be DEPORTED. Which is why I am calling for him to be subject to denaturalization proceedings. Attached is my letter to @AGPamBondi. pic.twitter.com/RWCZm67VOr — Rep. Andy Ogles (@RepOgles) June 26, 2025 Mamdani has also pledged to stop masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents “from deporting our neighbours”. When Trump was asked about this on Tuesday at a news conference, he said that if Mamdani prevents ICE agents from conducting deportation operations, “Well, then, we’ll have to arrest him.” Advertisement “We don’t need a communist in this country, but if we have one, I’m going to be watching over him very carefully on behalf of the nation,” Trump said, adding, “we’ll send him money, we’ll send him all the things he needs to run the government.” Trump continued, citing claims that Mamdani is in the US illegally, saying, “We’re going to look at everything”. The president also voiced support for the current New York mayor, Eric Adams, who is also a member of the Democratic Party. How has Mamdani responded? Mamdani posted a statement on his X account in response to Trump’s comments on Tuesday. “The President of the United States just threatened to have me arrested, stripped of my citizenship, put in a detention camp and deported. Not because I have broken any law but because I will refuse to let ICE terrorize our city,” Mamdani wrote in his statement. Mamdani also called Trump’s praise of Adams “unsurprising”, adding: “At the very moment when MAGA Republicans are attempting to destroy the social safety net, kick millions of New Yorkers off of healthcare and enrich their billionaire donors at the expense of working families, it is a scandal that Eric Adams echoes this President’s division, distraction and hate. Voters will resoundingly reject it in November.” My statement on Donald Trump’s threat to deport me and his praise for Eric Adams, who the President “helped out” of legal accountability. https://t.co/m7pNcT2DFS pic.twitter.com/UcYakMx4lI — Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) July 1, 2025 What has the Trump administration said about Elon Musk? While the billionaire owner of Tesla and SpaceX was once a key aide to Trump and a major donor to his presidential campaign last year, Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” has created a public rift between Trump and Musk. Musk has repeatedly decried the bill online and has threatened to form a new political party as a response to the bill passing. Musk stands to
Tesla global sales fall amid Musk backlash and pressure on EV market
Other carmakers including Volvo and Rivian reported a drop in sales on Wednesday. Tesla has reported another hefty drop in auto sales extending a difficult period amid intensifying electric vehicle competition and backlash over CEO Elon Musk’s political activities. On Wednesday, the electric vehicle (EV) maker reported 384,122 deliveries in the second quarter, representing a 13.5 percent decline from this time a year ago. Its earnings report will be released after the market close. Sales were roughly in line with analyst expectations. The global sales figures reflect the more contested nature of the EV market, which Tesla once dominated, but which now also features BYD and other low-cost Chinese companies, as well as legacy Western carmakers like General Motors, Toyota and Volkswagen. However, demand for EVs has slumped amid tariff fears and the looming end of the EV tax credit in the United States. On Wednesday, Volvo also announced that fully electric sales fell by 26 percent in June. Rivian sales also tumbled. The electric carmaker said there was a 22.7 percent drop in sales compared with to this time last year. Musk weighing on sales and the stock Musk’s political activism on behalf of right-wing figures has also made the company a target of boycotts and demonstrations, weighing on sales. Musk donated more than $270m to US President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, barnstorming key battleground states for the Republican. But in the last few weeks, he has had a falling out with Trump, driven by the president’s wide-ranging tax and spending bill. Musk’s objections to the “Big Beautiful Bill” has escalated tensions between the two. In a social media post, Musk accused bill supporters of backing “debt slavery”. Advertisement In response, the president called for the Department of Government Efficiency to look at subsidies for Musk’s companies, sending the stock tumbling and it closed down 5.3 percent on Tuesday. A brighter future? But analysts believe that increased production of the Model Y and 3 could show a positive road ahead for the EV-maker, which produced 396,835 cars of the two models in the second quarter — up from 345,454 in the first quarter. “We believe Tesla is on a path to an accelerated growth path over the coming years with deliveries expected to ramp in the back-half of 2025 following the Model Y refresh cycle,” Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities, said in a note to Al Jazeera. Musk has acknowledged that his work as head of the Department of Government Efficiency and his embrace of European far-right candidates have hurt the company. But he attributed much of the sales plunge to customers holding off while they waited for new versions of Tesla’s best-selling Model Y, and recently predicted a major turnaround in sales. The company is focusing more on robots, self-driving technology and robotaxis ferrying passengers around without anyone behind the wheel its test run of robotaxis in Austin, Texas, seems to have gone smoothly for the most part. But it also has drawn the scrutiny of federal car safety regulators because of a few mishaps, including one case in which a Tesla cab was shown on a widely shared video heading down an opposing lane. On Wednesday, Tesla stock was trending upwards at 11am in New York (15:00 GMT) and was up 4.73 percent for the day, however, it is down 3.02 percent over the last five days. Adblock test (Why?)
Hamas-run court gives Gaza gang leader Abu Shabab 10 days to surrender
Abu Shabab is the leader of the Popular Forces, a criminal group in southern Gaza thought to be backed by Israel. A Hamas-run court in Gaza has ordered Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a criminal group allegedly backed by Israel, to surrender himself for trial. The Revolutionary Court of the Military Judiciary Authority in Gaza gave the 35-year-old head of the Popular Forces group, which stands accused of collaborating with Israel to loot humanitarian aid, 10 days to turn himself in. Abu Shabab faces charges of treason, collaborating with hostile entities, forming an armed gang and armed rebellion, the court said on Wednesday, adding that he would be tried in absentia if he fails to surrender. The Popular Forces posted a response on a Facebook page that usually carries its announcements, describing the court’s order as a “sitcom that doesn’t frighten us, nor does it frighten any free man who loves his homeland and its dignity”. The group and its leader were thrust into the limelight last month when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government had “activated” powerful local clans in Gaza on the advice of “security officials”. Israeli and Palestinian media named the group as the Popular Forces, a well-armed Bedouin clan led by Abu Shabab, reportedly consisting of about 100 armed men. The group later said online that its members were involved in guarding aid shipments sent to distribution centres run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which Israel contracted to distribute aid in the enclave. Mass killings of aid seekers near the US-backed GHF distribution centres, which replaced existing distribution networks run by the United Nations and other experienced aid groups, have become a routine occurrence. Advertisement The European Council on Foreign Relations think tank has described Abu Shabab as the leader of a “criminal gang operating in the Rafah area that is widely accused of looting aid trucks”. It said he was thought to have been previously imprisoned by Hamas for drug trafficking. The court urged Palestinians to inform Hamas security officials about the whereabouts of Abu Shabab, who has so far remained beyond their reach in the Rafah area of southern Gaza held by Israeli troops. It said anyone who knows of Abu Shabab’s location and fails to report him would be considered to have concealed a fugitive from justice. Adblock test (Why?)
Japanese activist pledges to continue daily Gaza protests
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Japanese activist Yusuke Furusawa has been protesting alone against the Gaza genocide for more than 600 days.
Russian strikes hit Ukraine after US announces weapon shipment cuts
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Russian strikes hit across Ukraine after the US announced it would halt some weapon shipments.
Hamas studying new ceasefire proposals, calls for end to Gaza war
The Palestinian group Hamas says it is studying new proposals for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, but insisted it is seeking an agreement that would bring an end to Israel’s war. Hamas said in a statement on Wednesday that it had received proposals from the mediators and is holding talks with them to “bridge gaps” to return to the negotiating table and try to reach a ceasefire agreement. The group said it was aiming for an agreement that would end the Gaza war and ensure the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave. The announcement comes a day after United States President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed to a proposal for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen. Trump has been increasing pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas to broker a ceasefire and an agreement for the group to release the Israeli captives held in Gaza. Trump said the 60-day period would be used to work towards ending the war – something Israel says it will not accept until Hamas is defeated. Trump is due to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next week. But Hamas’s announcement, which emphasised its demand that the war end, raised questions about whether the latest offer could materialise into an actual pause in fighting. Shortly after the Hamas statement, Netanyahu said “there will be no Hamas” in post-war Gaza. Israeli officials have warned that the country’s military will escalate its operations in Gaza if ceasefire negotiations do not advance soon, according to the US-based Axios news outlet. Advertisement “We’ll do to Gaza City and the central camps what we did to Rafah. Everything will turn to dust,” the outlet quoted a senior Israeli official as saying. “It’s not our preferred option, but if there’s no movement towards a hostage deal, we won’t have any other choice.” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said any opportunity to free captives held in Gaza should not be missed, adding that there is a lot of support, both in the cabinet and within the public at large, for the US-backed proposal. The proposal, though, has not been publicly backed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said Palestinians mistrust Trump and have been disappointed several times by mooted ceasefires that have failed to materialise. “There are headlines that are talking about a potential agreement and an end to the genocide, but what we’re seeing on the ground, the reality tells a different story. An average of 100 to 120 Palestinians are killed every single day,” he said. “So for a lot of people, there is a lot of hypocrisy going on. If you talk about a ceasefire, then you need to create the conditions that would lead to a ceasefire, not an escalation, and what we are seeing on the ground is definitely an escalation.” Hospital director killed In Gaza, Israeli forces killed at least 67 people on Wednesday, according to Palestinian health authorities. Hospital officials said four children and seven women were among the dead. Among the victims was Dr Marwan al-Sultan, director of the Indonesian Hospital, who was killed in an Israeli strike on a residential building in an area southwest of Gaza City, according to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic. His wife and children were also killed in the attack. Al-Sultan was a key source of information from Gaza, reporting on the conditions of Palestinians in the north of the besieged enclave. He had repeatedly called on the international community to press for medical teams’ safety, including when the Israeli army laid siege or struck the Indonesian Hospital, the largest medical facility north of Gaza City. Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 56,647 people and wounded 134,105, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive. The war has left the coastal Palestinian territory in ruins, with much of the urban landscape flattened in the fighting. More than 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced, often multiple times. The war has caused a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, pushing hundreds of thousands of people to famine-like conditions. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
US university bans trans athletes under pressure from Trump administration
University of Pennsylvania erases records set by trans swimmer as part of resolution to civil rights investigation. A top university in the United States has agreed to bar transgender athletes from women’s sports and erase records set by a prominent trans swimmer following pressure from the administration of President Donald Trump. The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and the US Department of Education on Tuesday announced the agreement to resolve a federal civil rights investigation focused on transgender swimmer Lia Thomas. Thomas, who was born male and came out as a trans woman in 2018, won a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I title in 2022, becoming the first trans athlete to accomplish the feat. Thomas, who began hormone replacement therapy in 2019 as part of the transition from male to female, also set UPenn records in five women’s events, including the 100-metre and 500-metre freestyle competitions. Thomas’s accomplishments became a focal point in the debate about fairness in sport, with LGBTQ campaigners hailing the swimmer’s participation as a victory for inclusion and critics, including some of Thomas’s teammates, casting it as an attack on women’s rights. Larry Jameson, UPenn’s president, said in a statement that the university recognised that some student athletes had been disadvantaged by the NCAA eligibility rules that had been in place at the time of Thomas’s participation. The NCAA changed its eligibility rules to limit participation in women’s events to female-born athletes in March, following Trump’s executive order denying funding to educational institutions that allow trans girls and women to compete. Advertisement “We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time,” Jameson said. “We will review and update the Penn women’s swimming records set during that season to indicate who would now hold the records under current eligibility guidelines.” UPenn later on Tuesday removed Thomas from its website’s list of “All-Time School Records”, and added a note stating that Thomas set records during the 2021-22 season under “eligibility rules in effect at the time”. UPenn’s move comes after the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights in April announced that it had determined the university to have violated Title IX by “permitting males to compete in women’s intercollegiate athletics and to occupy women-only intimate facilities”. US Education Secretary Linda McMahon called the agreement a “great victory for women and girls”. “The Department commends UPenn for rectifying its past harms against women and girls, and we will continue to fight relentlessly to restore Title IX’s proper application and enforce it to the fullest extent of the law,” McMahon said in a statement. Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD, two of the biggest LGBTQ advocacy organisations in the US, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. UPenn’s announcement is the latest in a series of moves to limit trans people’s participation in sport in the US and elsewhere since Trump returned to the White House in January. In March, World Athletics said it would require participants in women’s events to undergo DNA testing to prove their biological sex. Opinion polls have pointed to growing public opposition to trans women and girls competing against female-born athletes. In a New York Times/Ipsos poll published in January, 79 percent of Americans said that trans women should be barred from female sports, up from 62 percent in 2021. Adblock test (Why?)
US Senate passes Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’, sending it to the House
The United States Senate has passed a sweeping tax bill championed by President Donald Trump, sending the controversial legislation to the House of Representatives for what could be a final vote. Lawmakers passed the bill by a 51-to-50 vote in the Republican controlled-chamber on Tuesday, after Vice President JD Vance broke the tie. The successful vote ended what was a marathon 27 hours of debate in the upper chamber. Three Republicans joined with Democrats to vote against the bill, which would enshrine many of Trump’s signature policies, including his 2017 tax cuts, reductions for social safety net programmes, and increased spending on border enforcement and deportations. Critics on both sides of the aisle have taken aim at the estimated $3.3 trillion the bill would add to the national debt. Others have blasted reductions to programmes like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). They argue that the bill takes support away from low-income families to finance tax cuts that will primarily help the wealthy. Trump, however, has pressed for the bill to be passed by July 4, the country’s Independence Day. The legislation, informally known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill”, now heads back to the House for a Wednesday vote on the updated version. The president found out about the Senate’s passage in the midst of a news conference in South Florida, where he was touting his crackdown on immigration. Despite tight odds in the House, Trump struck an optimistic tone about the upcoming vote. Advertisement “I think it’s going to go very nicely in the House,” Trump said. “Actually, I think it will be easier in the House than it was in the Senate.” The president also downplayed one of the most controversial provisions in the bill: cuts to Medicaid, a government health insurance programme for low-income families. About 11.8 million people are anticipated to lose their health coverage in the coming years if the bill becomes law. “I’m saying it’s going to be a very much smaller number than that, and that number will be all waste, fraud and abuse,” Trump said. Criticisms in the Senate Trump was not the only Republican to be celebrating the passage of the omnibus bill. In the Senate, leading Republican John Thune touted the bill as a victory for US workers. “It’s been a long road to get to today,” Thune said from the Senate floor. “Now we’re here, permanently extending tax relief for hard-working Americans.” But not all Republicans were as enthused about the bill. Three party members – Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Susan Collins of Maine – all voted against its passage. And even a critical vote in favour, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, appeared to express regret in the aftermath. “Do I like this bill? No,” she told a reporter for NBC News. “I know that in many parts of the country, there are Americans who are not going to be advantaged by this bill. I don’t like that.” She later took to social media to criticise the haste of its passage. “Let’s not kid ourselves. This has been an awful process – a frantic rush to meet an artificial deadline that has tested every limit of this institution.” Meanwhile, the top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, said that Republicans had “betrayed the American people and covered the Senate in utter shame”. “In one fell swoop, Republicans passed the biggest tax break for billionaires ever seen, paid for by ripping away healthcare from millions of people,” said Schumer. Still, Schumer announced one symbolic victory on Tuesday, writing on the social media platform X that Trump’s name for the legislation, “One Big Beautiful Bill”, had been struck from its official title. Republicans currently hold a trifecta in the US government, with control of the Senate, the House and the White House, giving Democrats reduced power in legislating. But the Republicans have narrow majorities in Congress, leading to uncertainty about the bill’s fate. In the Senate, they hold 53 of the chamber’s 100 seats. In the House, where the bill heads now, they have a majority of 220 representatives to the Democrats’ 212. Advertisement ‘Not fiscal responsibility’ The bill is therefore likely to face a razor-thin margin in the House. An early version that passed on May 22 did so with just one Republican vote to spare. The House Freedom Caucus, a group of hardline conservatives, has continued to baulk at the bill’s high price tag and could push for deeper spending cuts in the coming days. “The Senate’s version adds $651 billion to the deficit – and that’s before interest costs, which nearly double the total,” the caucus wrote in a statement on Monday. “That’s not fiscal responsibility. It’s not what we agreed to.” Billionaire Elon Musk, whose endorsement and funding helped propel Trump to victory in the 2024 presidential election, has also been a vocal opponent of the bill. “What’s the point of a debt ceiling if we keep raising it?” Musk asked on social media on Tuesday. “All I’m asking is that we don’t bankrupt America.” Musk has threatened to fund primary challenges against Republicans who support the bill and even floated on Monday launching a new political party in the US. Trump, however, has brushed aside Musk’s criticism as a reaction to the elimination of tax credits for electric vehicles: The billionaire owns one of the most prominent manufacturers, Tesla. The president also threatened to use the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Musk helped to found, to strip the billionaire’s companies of their subsidies. “DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon,” Trump said as he travelled to Florida. Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera correspondent Alan Fisher said that public support has been slipping as a clearer picture of the bill has emerged. “The longer this has been talked about and the more details that become public, the fewer Americans support him,” Fisher said. Several recent polls have shown that a majority
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,224
Here are the key events on day 1,224 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Here is how things stand on Wednesday, July 2: Fighting A Ukrainian drone attack on an industrial plant in Izhevsk, in central Russia, killed three people and injured 35 others, regional Governor Alexander Brechalov said in a post on Telegram. The drone struck the Kupol Electromechanical Plant, which produces air defence systems and drones for the Russian military, an unnamed official with Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU, told the Associated Press news agency. A Russian attack on a vehicle evacuating civilians from Pokrovsk, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, killed one person and injured a policeman, police said. The Ministry of Defence in Moscow said that 60 Ukrainian drones were downed overnight over several regions, including 17 over Russian-occupied Crimea, 16 over Russia’s Rostov region and four over Russia’s Saratov region. Ukraine’s Air Force said on Tuesday that Russia launched 52 Shahed and decoy drones at the country overnight. The United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Tuesday that it has been informed of a drone attack last week near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant that damaged several vehicles near the site’s cooling pond. Weapons Ukrainian Minister of Defence Rustem Umerov announced a new joint weapons production programme with members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), an alliance of about 50 countries. The programme would offer “a special legal and tax framework” to help establish new factories, “both on Ukrainian territory and abroad”, Umerov said in a post on social media. The Pentagon has reportedly halted some shipments of air defence missiles and other precision munitions to Ukraine over concerns that US stockpiles are too low, the Reuters news agency reported, citing two unnamed sources. The Pentagon did not immediately comment on the report. A Russian-British dual national appeared in a London court on Tuesday, charged with sending cryptocurrency for pro-Russian separatist militias in eastern Ukraine to buy weapons and military equipment. Advertisement Politics and diplomacy French President Emmanuel Macron called for a ceasefire in Ukraine in his first call with Russian President Vladimir Putin since 2022. A Kremlin statement said that Putin reminded Macron that “the Ukrainian conflict is a direct consequence of the policy of Western states”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “no one is delaying anything here”, after US envoy Keith Kellogg accused Russia of “stall[ing] for time” on ceasefire talks, “while it bombs civilian targets in Ukraine”. Peskov added: “We are naturally in favour of achieving the goals that we are trying to achieve through the special military operation via political and diplomatic means. Therefore, we are not interested in drawing out anything.” Adblock test (Why?)
Two Chinese nationals charged for trying to recruit spies in US military
The FBI has accused the pair of working on behalf of China’s Ministry of State Security to gather naval intelligence. The United States Department of Justice has charged two Chinese citizens for spying and trying to recruit from within the country’s military ranks. According to Tuesday’s statement, Yuance Chen, 38, and Liren “Ryan” Lai, 39, are accused of working on behalf of China’s foreign intelligence arm, the Ministry of State Security (MSS). The pair allegedly carried out a range of “clandestine intelligence taskings”, including facilitating payments in exchange for national security information, gathering intelligence on Navy bases and attempting to recruit MSS assets. “This case underscores the Chinese government’s sustained and aggressive effort to infiltrate our military and undermine our national security from within,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. According to an affidavit from the FBI, Lai was part of an MSS network “who could travel more easily” between China and the US “to facilitate clandestine operations”. Starting around 2021, he began developing Chen, who is a legal permanent resident, into his asset. After ascertaining that Chen knew people in the US military, Lai urged him to travel abroad to discuss his connections in person, even offering to pay for the tickets, according to the affidavit. The men reportedly met with MSS agents, and in 2022, they left a backpack with $10,000 in cash in a California locker as payment to other individuals for intelligence gathering. In the years that followed, the affidavit says that Chen collected information about the Navy and sent it to Lai, while also discussing recruitment efforts directly with the MSS. Advertisement Some of that information included personal details from Navy employees. In one case, Chen travelled to San Diego, California, to meet with a Navy hire and tour the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier. Photos included in the affidavit show a visitor’s badge as well as Chen posing with the employee and their child on top of the aircraft carrier’s deck. The FBI says that such interactions are part of China’s campaign to extend its military’s reach. “The PRC [People’s Republic of China] government seeks blue-water naval capabilities as part of their effort to modernize their navy and establish hegemony in the South China Sea,” the affidavit reads. “Blue-water capabilities” generally refer to long-distance maritime efforts, as opposed to operations based closer to domestic shores. “As such, the PRC government tasks and deploys the MSS to surreptitiously target the US Navy and collect intelligence,” the affidavit continues. Both men were charged under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, or FARA, which requires that those working on behalf of another country register with the US government. In recent years, the US government has ramped up its use of the law in its effort to combat alleged Chinese espionage activity. Beijing typically denies such claims and has accused the US of discriminatory tactics. “These charges reflect the breadth of the efforts by our foreign adversaries to target the United States,” US Attorney Craig H Missakian said in the Justice Department statement. “We will continue to undertake counterespionage investigations and prosecutions, no matter how complex and sensitive, to disrupt attempts to weaken our national security.” Adblock test (Why?)