According to a CNN report published this week, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was questioned by Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign vetting team about whether he had ever acted as an “agent of China,” due to his extensive travel history in the country.
The report, citing four sources familiar with the matter, says Walz faced scrutiny similar to that experienced by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who later revealed he had been asked whether he was a “double agent” for Israel during the same vetting process. Harris ultimately selected Walz as her running mate in the 2024 election, which ended in a loss to President Donald Trump.
Walz has long acknowledged his deep personal and professional connections to China. He first visited the country in 1989, coinciding with the Tiananmen Square protests, and later honeymooned there. Over the years, he helped establish an educational program that organized student trips to China. In 2016, Walz said he had traveled to China “dozens” of times, though his campaign later clarified the number was closer to 15.
CNN reports that these repeated visits prompted Harris’s team to directly ask Walz whether he had ever worked on behalf of the Chinese government. No evidence supporting such a claim has been made public, and Walz was ultimately cleared and selected for the ticket.
The revelation follows controversy sparked by Josh Shapiro’s account in his memoir, Where We Keep the Light, in which he questioned whether his Jewish identity and outspoken support for Israel affected Harris’s decision not to select him as her running mate. Shapiro said he felt singled out during the vetting process.
The report adds to ongoing political challenges for Walz, who is currently facing criticism over a massive fraud scandal in Minnesota involving an alleged $9 billion misuse of public funds. Together, these developments have reignited debate over campaign vetting practices, political bias, and transparency at the highest levels of Democratic Party leadership.