There was an exchange yesterday in the coronavirus briefing by the president where he was asked a question by a Chinese reporter. Trump quickly asked the Chinese reporter who she was with, trying to ascertain if she works for the Chinese government or not:

Trump grills a reporter from Hong Kong about who she works for and in an accusatory fashion asks if she works for the Chinese government (she says she doesn't) pic.twitter.com/c9GJhckVDr — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 6, 2020

The reporter responded that she was Phoenix TV out of Hong Kong and that it’s privately owned, not state owned.

In response to the tweet, Trump has every right to know who is asking him questions. And it turns out his suspicion that this reporter worked for the Chinese government was dead on.







Ted Cruz addressed this late last night in a mini-tweetstorm, explaining that Phoenix TV out of Hong Kong is indeed an entity of the Chinese government and blasting the MSM for allowing the Chinese government a seat in the White House briefings:

Phoenix TV has been waging information warfare in the US for yrs. They are nominally private but actually state owned. In 2018 I led effort to block them from using cutouts to spread propaganda. MSM should NEVER have given them seat at WH press conference. https://t.co/JswOrAwb8X — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 7, 2020

2/x From my letter to the FCC: “H&H Capital assists PRC companies with finding strategic investors from around the globe” and “work[s] with Chinese companies interested in buying U.S. companies or the Chinese rights to U.S. brands.” — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 7, 2020

3/x “…It was founded by Ms. Huo, who is described on the website as ‘native of Beijing’ who ‘has conducted in-depth research and analysis of major financial, legal, and business news including… key legal issues facing Chinese state-owned enterprises, among other topics.’” — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 7, 2020

4/x “…Radio Free Asia recently reported that Ms. Huo worked in NY as a correspondent for Global Times, which is owned by the People’s Daily, an official newspaper of the CPC, registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.” — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 7, 2020

5/x “…Phoenix Satellite TV US is a subsidiary of Beijing Phoenix TV, based in Hong Kong. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) exerts control over Chinese media and the control extends to Phoenix: in 2009 testimony to the US Economic & Security Review Commission on China…” — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 7, 2020

6/x “…Anne Marie-Brady…at Wilson Center said ‘Phoenix is nominally privately-owned; however its current main investor is the State-owned enterprise China Mobile.’ In 2016…Phoenix BROADCAST THE FORCED CONFESSIONS of 5 Hong Kong booksellers for violating PRC censorship law.” — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 7, 2020