Hi. I'm Dan Friedman, a senior reporter based in the DC bureau.
Last week, a group called the New Federal State of China got attention by showing up at CPAC. The organization, launched in 2020 by Steve Bannon and exiled Chinese mogul Guo Wengui, reportedly spent $75,000 on a sponsorship and booths it used to promote its message that the Chinese Communist Party exerts extensive influence in the United States.
If this sounds familiar, it's because you may have already read about this group at Mother Jones. As I reported a year ago, Guo and Bannon have long used the NFSC and a slew of private and nonprofit organizations to push false information about the 2020 election and Covid. A key takeaway from that investigation was that Guo had monetized misinformation and his supposed opposition to China’s rulers to successfully solicit investments and contributions from supporters in the international Chinese diaspora. It turns out that the NFSC relied on a similar recipe in Poland. The group made false and exaggerated claims about efforts to help Ukrainian refugees. And that gambit helped Guo's organization raise money and gain attention.
My latest—a collaboration with Delaney Nolan, who provided excellent on-the-ground reporting from Poland—found that experienced aid groups in the region grew incredibly frustrated with NFSC members, who despite claiming that they were on the "front lines" of rescue missions, spent an inordinate amount of time livestreaming, managing a $6500 coffee machine, making empty promises, and overstating their actual contributions.
At one point, Guo, who last year declared bankruptcy, even suggested that the prime minister of Belgium had given the NFSC "tacit…diplomatic recognition" in connection with its refugee work. We checked. Didn’t happen. So what's the deal?
According to the financial records we obtained, Guo’s phony claims coincided with increases in donations from backers eager to support the Ukraine mission. In other words, a far-right group tied to Steve Bannon and his exiled patron used lies about helping refugees to raise money.
This all fits into the broader narrative of right-wing groups parachuting into humanitarian crises for reasons that aren't exactly pure. You'll see in my colleague Kiera Butler's newest report that something similar is happening in East Palestine, Ohio, where an outfit called The Wellness Company received a bunch of praise after offering free healthcare to residents in the wake of Norfolk Southern train derailment. But as Kiera reports, the company turns out to be a far-right, anti-vax project. Its senior advisor is a former Trump official who participated in the anti-vaccine trucker convoys and called for officials who promoted the Covid vaccines to be imprisoned.
This is the bread of butter of our reporting: uncovering the hidden interests and motives that seem to impact every aspect of society. I hope you take some time to read about Bannon and the Ukraine effort that largely wasn't.
—Dan Friedman
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