Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) slammed Obama-appointed attorney general Loretta Lynch for "selling out" to the Chinese Communist Party by representing a U.S.-designated Chinese military firm in its lawsuit against the Pentagon.
Shenzhen DJI Technology Company (DJI), a Chinese drone manufacturer, is suing the Pentagon over its 2022 decision to add DJI to its blacklist of "Military Companies Operating in the United States," which are considered potential national security threats. In its lawsuit, DJI—which is one of the largest producers of drones in the world—alleged that the Chinese military label has negatively impacted its business and "violates the law and DJI’s due-process rights."
Stefanik said that Lynch "has turned her back on her nation, selling out to our greatest adversary Communist China and suing the United States on behalf of CCP-owned drone company DJI."
"Not only is her lawsuit full of factual errors, it is also an obvious effort by DJI to distract from CBP’s recent halting of DJI imports due to Uyghur slave labor concerns and a futile attempt to disrupt the momentum behind my unanimously passed Countering CCP Drones Act," the New York representative told National Review.
Stefanik—who wrote the Countering CCP Drones Act, which blocked DJI products from "operating on U.S. communications infrastructure"—also said that the drone company’s "sham lawsuit is not going to save them."
Lynch, who served as U.S. attorney general under former president Barack Obama, is now a partner at the law firm Paul Weiss. Prior to DJI’s Friday lawsuit against the Pentagon, Lynch wrote a letter to the Department of Defense on behalf of her client requesting its removal from the Pentagon’s blacklist, Reuters reported.
The U.S. Treasury placed investment restrictions on DJI in 2021, accusing it of actively supporting surveillance against Uyghurs—Turkic Muslims facing persecution by the CCP. DJI has been accused of surveilling other ethnic minorities in China, and its drones have allegedly been used by both sides in the war in Ukraine, the Agence France Presse reported.