A campaign consultant for Republican presidential hopeful and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley previously lobbied for a Chinese company identified as a national security threat by the federal government.
Public finance records from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show Haley’s campaign paid nearly $62,000 for political consulting and travel expenses to the 1060 Group, a Texas firm registered to Rick Wiley. According to his LinkedIn page, Wiley is currently a partner at Black Diamond Strategies, where his resume includes work for the ZTE Corporation, a Chinese firm that federal officials have warned presents a risk to national security for more than a decade.
Wiley registered as a lobbyist for a law firm operating “on behalf of” the Chinese corporation in November 2018. The registration came six months after a top U.S. counterintelligence official told lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee that ZTE presents a national security risk. Bill Evanina, who served as director of the Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) under the Trump administration, warned in 2018 that Chinese telecommunications firms are often used as instruments of espionage, and said he would never use a ZTE phone. The Chinese company agreed to pay a $1 billion fine that same year for repeatedly violating U.S. sanctions by assisting entities in Iran and North Korea.
Public concerns over ZTE’s use as a vehicle for Chinese surveillance date at least as far back to 2012. After a year-long investigation, the House Intelligence Committee concluded ZTE was a national security threat due
