A former California mayor has come clean about a bevy of allegations accusing her of being a foreign agent.
And now that she’s pleaded guilty, they’re not exactly allegations anymore.
Eileen Li Wang — a Democrat — formally admitted to being a foreign agent for China who was helping spread Beijing’s propaganda stateside, according to Fox News.
Wang, the former mayor of Arcadia, California, pleaded guilty to acting as an agent of a foreign government without notifying U.S. authorities.
Penalties for such a felony offense are stiff — a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison, three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, and a $100 “special assessment fee.”
Wang appeared in federal court on Friday, where she had actually turned down a translator, and proceeded with the hearing in English.
Interestingly, before accepting the guilty plea, the judge put Wang under oath and peppered her with questions about her state of mind and whether or not she grasped the proceedings.
Not only did Wang persist, she also waived her right to a grand jury indictment and her right to a jury trial.
Wang also agreed when prosecutors noted that she would be giving up certain constitutional rights under the plea deal, like certain rights to appeal.
Eventually, she would ultimately just proffer a two-word admission when asked by the judge: “Yes, guilty.”
The reason none of this appeared to bother Wang likely stems from the fact that she appeared resigned to her judicial fate rather early on.
When her arrest was first announced by the Department of Justice, it was noted that Wang had already “agreed” to a guilty plea, with Friday’s hearing officially confirming that.
(And, as Fox News noted, Wang pretty much immediately resigned as soon as federal charges were even announced.)
But perhaps the most illuminating part about Wang’s ordeal is that she became the mayor of Arcadia despite a noted history with some questionable individuals.
Wang apparently had not one, but two close relationships with convicted Chinese operatives, sparking questions into why those relationships weren’t more scrutinized before she was elected mayor.
An example of the propaganda Wang peddled included claims that, “There is no genocide in Xinjiang; there is no such thing as ‘forced labor’ in any production activity, including cotton production. Spreading such rumor is to defame China.”
Despite Wang’s apparent willingness to make this as easy as possible for authorities, those authorities did not hold back when describing Wang’s scheme.
“Individuals in our country who covertly do the bidding of foreign governments undermine our democracy,” First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said. “This plea agreement is the latest success in our determination to defend the homeland against China’s efforts to corrupt our institutions.”
“Individuals elected to public office in the United States should act only for the people of the United States that they represent,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg added.
“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.”
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