For prosecuting “a suspected CCP spy,” Senator Blackburn said it’s “a pity” that Democrats want to reject Biden’s nomination.
Three Senate aides told Fox News Digital that a judge nominated by President Biden is stuck in the Senate Judiciary Committee because the judge prosecutes an alleged Chinese spy. This prosecution has caused concern among at least one Senate Democrat, who fears that the judge’s actions reflect “anti-Asian” racism.
According to Biden’s aides, Hawaii Democrat Sen. Mazie Hirono is holding up the confirmation of Biden’s candidate for U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, attorney Casey Arrowood, who worked as a Justice Department prosecutor during the Obama administration. When the Department of Justice’s “China Initiative,” established during the Trump administration, was abolished earlier this year, Arrowood oversaw the prosecution of a case.
A representative for the Democrats on the committee and Hirono’s office declined to comment to Fox News Digital on the senator’s purported opposition to Arrowood. Democratic resistance is holding up the nominee, according to Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who supports the nomination.
For “prosecuting a suspected CCP spy,” Blackburn called it “sad” that Democrats are blocking Arrowood’s “well-qualified” nomination.
For his nation, “Mr. Arrowood has placed his life on the line,” Blackburn told Fox News Digital. Unfortunately, certain Democrats in the Senate seek to disqualify him because he tried to prosecute a possible CCP spy at the University of Texas.
Blackburn said that protecting the United States against potential foreign and domestic threats should never be a crime or disqualify an individual for a Senate-confirmed position. “Communist China is the biggest threat facing our country, and Mr. Arrowood was correct in seeking to bring a person accused of spying to justice.”
During Attorney General Eric Holder’s term, Arrowood worked in the National Security Division of the Obama Justice Department, where he won many accolades. When he was a captain in the Army, he went to Afghanistan in 2003.
Arrowood was Biden’s July nomination. Senate staffers claim that Hirono is delaying a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee to prolong Arrowood’s candidacy beyond the conclusion of the current Congress.
Given the current impasse, Biden will have to decide whether to renominate Arrowood or select a new nominee.
Anming Hu, a professor at a U.S. institution, was prosecuted under Arrowood’s direction because he allegedly misled NASA officials by concealing that he held a similar position at China’s Beijing University of Technology.
Due to legal restrictions, NASA cannot use any of its allotted federal funding on initiatives involving China or Chinese institutions.
This investigation was conducted as part of the Trump administration’s “China Initiative,” which aimed to catch and punish “those engaged in trade secret theft, hacking, and economic espionage.” Biden halted the anti-China project in February after receiving allegations of prejudice.
The Biden Justice Department, however, kept pressing charges against the University of Tennessee professor. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. Therefore the federal court acquitted Hu.
During Biden’s watch at the Justice Department, the case was reauthorized for prosecution again, only to be thrown out on a technicality by the court.