Charlie James discusses campaign funding, Senate races, and Elaine Chao. episode artwork

EPISODE · Sep 9, 2026 · 5 MIN

Charlie James discusses campaign funding, Senate races, and Elaine Chao.

from The Charlie James Show Podcast

In this segment of The Charlie James Show, host Charlie James begins by taking a call from Barbara in Greenville, who questions the political funding behind South Carolina candidate Darlene Graham and expresses concern over write-in voting dynamics. James clarifies the sources of political action committee (PAC) funding and reiterates former Congressman Ralph Norman's advice that conservative voters back the Republican nominee to prevent a Democratic victory. The discussion then shifts to national security and ethics as James details a Daily Caller investigation into former U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, examining reports that she held advisory roles for Chinese government-linked entities while serving in the federal cabinet.

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Full Transcript Charlie James: All right, let's go to the Ingles Market Talk Line. We'll talk to Barbara in Greenville. How you doing, Barbara? Barbara: Well, I'm calling back because um I didn't make a point that I should've, and that is, I'm it's not that um I don't want a Republican, but Darlene Graham is the Manchurian candidate. I mean, we have learned follow the money. And the money behind her was the DNC, and they put $2 million in, and they're pretty broke, we know that, so they must really want her. Charlie James: Well, it wasn't the DNC; it was a PAC that was aligned with the DNC. Barbara: All right. Charlie James: And they got plenty of money. Barbara: And then there was a billionaire uh who supported Kamala and he intends to support Gavin Newsom. Charlie James: Yeah. Barbara: And will support Annie Andrews. Charlie James: Probably. Barbara: Uh, I don't know. I don't know. Um, but here's the main one, and it's the big donors that invested a lot of money in the Green New Deal. And without the Green New Deal, they they're losing money. And Trump, I heard him say it one time, he thought, you know, it was only fair to set uh to uh provide them with uh help. And they were big uh behind her. So, if we follow the money, and also when she was head of the uh insti- whatever that group was for the blind— Charlie James: Yeah. Barbara: She uh she bragged that um her agency was going to be number one in— Charlie James: In DEI. I know, we know all of this stuff, Barbara. We've talked about this stuff ad nauseam. But the fact is, if you vote for anybody but her, I mean, that's that's going to be a win for Annie Andrews, I appreciate it. Even Ralph Norman said, "Don't write me in." Vote for the Republican—vote for the candidate. He said he was voting for the candidate. Speaking of the Senate, all right, let me just uh um preface this by saying: this has nothing to do with somebody's ethnicity. Not about where someone's parents were born, not about whether or not someone has Chinese heritage. It's about who was giving an American Cabinet Secretary titles and positions, and when. And it's got to do with Mitch McConnell. A new investigation is raising serious questions about former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. Chao, like I said, married to former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, she served as Labor Secretary under George W. Bush and Transportation Secretary under Donald Trump. Now, according to an investigation from The Daily Caller, um Chinese government records and Chinese state media reports indicate that Chao was given multiple advisory or honorary positions by Chinese government entities and organizations connected to the Chinese Communist Party and the United Front Work Department. And here's where it gets interesting: some of those positions overlapped with her service in the U.S. Cabinet. Think about that for a second. An American Cabinet Secretary, you're sitting inside the U.S. government, and uh roughly about the same time, Chinese government-linked organizations are identifying you as an advisor, and a committee member, and an honorary official. Tell me there's something not weird going on there. Is that a conflict of interest? I would say yes. Is that foreign influence? I would say yes. Is that a danger to national security? I would say yes. According to the reporting, Chao received at least four China-related government positions beginning in 2008. Three were connected to organizations associated with the United Front system, and another was an advisory position involving (gasp) the Wuhan municipal government. Well! One of the most striking examples involves an organization in Jiading, Shanghai, the hometown of Chao's father. Chinese government reporting identified Chao as an insider and a committee member of the organization's fifth council from 2012 to 2017. That overlaps with Elaine Chao being Donald Trump's Transportation Secretary. December 2008, when Chao was still serving as Geor ...

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Charlie James discusses campaign funding, Senate races, and Elaine Chao.

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