Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao | Alex Wong/Getty Images Congress House Oversight probing whether Chao improperly helped her family's company

The House Oversight Committee is investigating whether Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao used her official position to benefit her family's shipping company.

The committee sent Chao a letter today asking her for all communications since President Donald Trump‘s inauguration between DOT and her family business, the Foremost Group, as well as related documentation.


"The Committee is examining your misstatements of fact, your actions that may have benefitted the company in which you continued to hold shares, and your compliance with ethics and financial disclosure requirements," write Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.).

A spokesperson for Chao said she looks forward to responding to the committee, then disparaged the news reports upon which the letter is based, saying they are "stale and only attempt to undermine her long career of public service."

The letter cites several media reports outlining Chao's ties to Foremost Group and raising questions about whether she used her office to benefit the company.

In particular, the letter cites a New York Times story from June outlining a planned trip to China that Chao abruptly canceled amid ethics questions about the extent to which her family would be accommodated on the trip, and reporting from POLITICO detailing Chao's use of Asian-language media, often with her father by her side, where she on at least one occasion promoted his autobiography. The letter also notes a Wall Street Journal report about Chao's failure to divest from the Vulcan Materials Company.

“Several reports indicate that you have used your official position to benefit Foremost Group, a shipping company owned by your father and sisters that is headquartered in New York and operates a fleet that transports materials to and from China," the letter read.

Chao has no formal role with Foremost Group. Her father founded the company, and her sister, Angela Chao, is CEO.

POLITICO has also reported on the amount of time Chao spent early in her tenure engaged in "private meetings," as well as the access she granted to Kentucky officials, including tasking one of her inner circle with being a special liaison between Chao and Kentucky issues.