Looks like Elaine Chao is in trouble:

[Kingofalldems]

Link to tweet

[WA-03 Democrat]

1. Let the walls come down

Crashing down on these rotten grifters

[speak easy]

80. ...

[secondwind]

2. Anyone surprised ???

[Captain Zero]

54. Oligarchs gonna Oligarch.

nt

[zentrum]

63. LOL!

[MiniMe]

3. Mitch's wife, No surprise there

[SoonerPride]

4. Once a crook

Always a crook

[Srkdqltr]

5. Of course. Are we surprised?

[Lucinda]

6. I've been expecting this...

[gratuitous]

7. Who was running the Department of Justice back in December?

Mysterious why nothing happened in the wake of this report from the IG.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. Couldn't happen to a more worthy former Secretary. n/t

[MyOwnPeace]

56. "Only the best!" - remember?

[UpInArms]

9. Awwwww .... hoping they find things

[leftieNanner]

10. I understand that she also sent some nice little

Transportation Project Dollars to Kentucky. Hmmm. Isn't her husband a Senator from that state?

[niyad]

52. Rachel did a segment on that very topic some time ago.

[spanone]

11. K&R

You know if she was a Democrat they would have investigated her ad nauseam

[Hugh_Lebowski]

12. Lucky for her, the 'IOKIYAR Doctrine' is the legally established precedence in all such cases (nt)

[hibbing]

25. +1

[sarcasmo]

13. The Cocaine Chao's.

[JohnSJ]

14. When she was Secretary of Labor under bush she was the most callus and uncaring person

[Kingofalldems]

16. Yes I remember her at hearings

she would get up and walk out in the middle of a question.

[BlueNProud]

36. That's what attracted Moscow Mitch to her

God that woman's as heartless and arrogant as I am. I gotta have her.

[PCIntern]

67. Unfortunately for him...

She does that in the middle in the bedroom.

[Baitball Blogger]

15. FINALLY!!!!!!

[Kingofalldems]

17. The IG sent it up in December.

Trump couldn't stop it.

[BlueJac]

18. Excellent! About time

[panader0]

19. That kind of influence is considered a perk of the job to these folks.

[pandr32]

20. Why else would she want the job?

[multigraincracker]

57. Didn't marry him for his looks.

I’d bet he didn’t marry her for her cooking.

[OnDoutside]

21. Looks like Mitch might have a bit of dealing to do...

[sop]

22. Yeah, she's corrupt, but she wasn't tweeting mean stuff.

[colorado_ufo]

48. Just my two cents, but it wasn't really the mean tweets;

it was the poor judgment to send them. I saw a couple that she had sent, and they were mean, unnecessary, and counterproductive. She personally insulted Lisa Murkowski, whose vote is so critical for us at times. What was her motivation to do that? To feel "superior?"

I am very glad Neera Tanden's nomination is withdrawn. No matter how smart and experienced she might be, she would have eventually been a black mark for Biden and a thorn in his side. He dodged a bullet. Let her serve in a less prominent role - there are lots of spots for her.

[fwvinson]

55. Republican don't have a clue, or care, about what another

Republican does. But, they sure get upset about childrens' dolls.

[OMGWTF]

23. Band of Thieves!

I won't be happy until these traitors and grifters are in prison. This is why this sh!t keeps happening -- because it pays very well with no consequences.

[progressoid]

24. At most she'll get a slap on the wrist.

[zentrum]

66. Yup. And it won't

.....touch Mitch at all.

[bluecollar2]

26. Endless hours of house hearings...

Drain the swamp.

[calimary]

27. Oh I hope so!!!

[Gaugamela]

28. "There are ways of dealing with him." Remember Schumer in Maddow's interview?

When I saw that I figured Schumer had dirt on McConnell’s wife.

[bottomofthehill]

29. Mitch will go with, we live largely separate lives......

[jmbar2]

30. I have no proof, but

I've always suspected that she is a deep agent for Communist China - a honeypot for Mitch that worked beyond their wildest dreams.

In exchange for life with a turtle, her family is set up financially for countless generations, and the Chinese government has an insider at the top levels of US gov for decades.

[mgardener]

40. Her parents were born in China but left after the Civil War there

She was born in Taiwan and her family emigrated to US in the early 50's.

[jmbar2]

61. Her husband took a job in Taiwan

but never severed connections with the Mainland. He remained in contact with the top government officials in China throughout his life. The Chinese play a long game.

[IronLionZion]

73. Her family business mostly works with China

it's no secret that their shipping contracts and loans are mostly with China. And she has long been accused of conflict of interest. They even got a PPP loan during this pandemic as a "small business".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foremost_Group

[SeattleVet]

31. Well...

[evolves]

32. Shocked!

SHOCKED, I tell you!



In case anyone needs this:

[MFM008]

33. Mitch needs to worry

and worry big.

[FakeNoose]

34. Maybe Mr. & Mrs. McConnell are planning a trip to China

One way?

[LiberalLovinLug]

35. All of these scumbags would have just carried on raking it in if Trump had been elected again

No one the wiser. Including Trump and his family of criminals.

[bluestarone]

37. YEP and guess what, While she was helping HER family

QRUMP family was helping themselves. Also LOTs of OTHER QTHUGLICON families were helping themselves. PRISO PRISON PRISON!!!

[a kennedy]

38. and excuse me........IT'S ABOUT GAWD DAMN TIME.....

[Deuxcents]

53. I agree

We’ve seen n known about this n now.. surprise?

[monkeyman1]

39. bEND OVER MITCH & TAKE IT LIKE A MAN !

[gibraltar72]

41. I'm shocked there's gambling going on here!

[malaise]

42. I knew this was coming but

I don't care do you - lock them all up

[BumRushDaShow]

43. Didn't get chance to LBN that (too many others)

But WaPo's version -

Link to tweet

TEXT

The Washington Post
@washingtonpost
Ethics concerns led to criminal referral involving former transportation secretary Elaine Chao, inspector general says
Ethics concerns led to criminal referral involving Elaine Chao, inspector general says
Prosecutors declined to prosecute after the inspector general investigation.
washingtonpost.com
6:31 PM · Mar 3, 2021

Ethics concerns led to criminal referral involving Elaine Chao, inspector general says

By Michael Laris
March 3, 2021 at 6:27 p.m. EST

Investigators from the Transportation Department’s internal watchdog found evidence of potential ethical violations by former secretary Elaine Chao, and referred the case to the Justice Department for prosecution in December, according to documents released Wednesday. The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section declined pursue the case, according to investigators from Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General.

There were a number of “potential ethics concerns arising from the actions of the Secretary and Office of the Secretary (OST) staff under her direction,” investigators wrote. Among them were “tasking” political appointees to “contact the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about the status of a work permit application submitted by a foreign student studying at a U.S. university who was a recipient of Chao family philanthropy,” according to investigators.

“The [U.S. attorney’s office] stated that there may be ethical and/or administrative issues to address but there is not predication to open a criminal investigation,” investigators from the Inspector General’s office said. The department also provided public affairs and media support to Chao’s father, investigators said. He was the founder of the Foremost Group, a shipping company headed by her sister. Investigators said Chao also used the staff time of department employees “for tasks for the Secretary that appear to be personal in nature.”

Among the personal tasks, according to a description from investigators, was Chao emailing a staffer in her office with the subject line: “Xmas ornaments.” The email directed the staff member to “sort out and fedex on Monday to Dr. Chao, and my sisters. Please draft a cover note –let me see it-telling them what we are sending.” Chao is married to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

This story will be updated.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/elaine-chao-ig-report/2021/03/03/169d0e36-7c53-11eb-b3d1-9e5aa3d5220c_story.html

[Arazi]

44. Why is everybody high-fiving? It says she was referred and they declined to prosecute

Is there another piece that says Biden's going to turn around and prosecute her now?

[Aerator]

50. Yep she is pretty much off of the hook

[BumRushDaShow]

51. I'm not high-fiving

I get breaking news banners from both the NYT (which came out with it first) and WaPo on my iPad and the NYT banner (still displayed on the iPad) says exactly this -

Breaking News
The Trump Justice Dept. declined a request to investigate after a watchdog said Elaine Chao misused her office while transportation secretary.

This doesn't necessarily mean nothing will happen in the future because nothing was done about it in the past.

I.e., because of 4 years of extreme ethics lapses by members of the top levels of the Executive Branch, it is conceivable that additional hearings will be held and legislation drafted (once we get past this damn pandemic and the economic fallout), to address this sort of thing.

[dlk]

45. Mrs McConnell's criminal activity has flown under the radar for years

She’s due for some accountability.

[blueinredohio]

46. Ill believe it when she's in jail.

[Celerity]

47. her family is neck deep with Asian criminal cartels, I hope she is convicted and rots in prison

[marble falls]

49. She's ducked everything so far.

[PatrickforB]

58. I wonder if anything will come of this. Chao, of course, ought to be in prison

already, but she IS the Turtle's wife, and has a very, very rich and powerful family.

I honestly think the best that will happen is that it may hurt Moscow Mitch.

[BobTheSubgenius]

84. Hurting Yurtle would be better than Chao spending her life in prison.

Just my opinion, obviously, but I'm pretty sure most people would agree.

[PatrickforB]

85. Well, I don't know if you saw it, but there were some real fishy things with the vote county in KY.

There were a couple articles out on it, but they never went anywhere. I guess Trump's power whine about 'stopping the steal' kind of made it hard for us to come back at any Republican discrepancies.

[housecat]

59. LOL

[smirkymonkey]

60. Oh, Poor Elaine!

Who could have ever seen this coming?

[aocommunalpunch]

62. She gone skate.

That’s what happens with oligarchs in this country.

[Joinfortmill]

64. And so it begins.

[Blue Owl]

65. The Bride of the Reaper

[BlancheSplanchnik]

68. Oh good. Go get her! Cocaine billionaires.

[TomDaisy]

69. I would be shocked if she wasn't corrupt

[iluvtennis]

70. Surprise, surprise

[NHvet]

71. be still my heart...

Say it ain't so?! Karma is a b*tch!

[jorgevlorgan]

72. This might be why mitch is trying to assure a gop replacement

in case of a KY vacancy.

[Rhiannon12866]

74. Twitter replies:

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[burrowowl]

75. Hope there is some prosecution

When is something going to be done about Clarence Thomas and his Missus?

[Ziggysmom]

76. The swamp was full of the turtle family and their shenanigans 🐢

[Bettie]

77. She's a Republican

so she'll skate on everything.

They almost never face consequences for their actions.

[Poiuyt]

78. The Trump Administration has to be the most corrupt in history

I don't think there's a close second.

[orleans]

79. this article lost me from the get-go

she had a staffer send her family xmas ornaments? OMFG!!!

ugh

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/03/politics/elaine-chao-inspector-general-transportation-department/index.html

[jaxexpat]

81. DECEMBER? How deep into the Trump trash "mine" did they have to dig to find this hidden gem?

Keep digging guys, harder and faster, there are chapter 11 prisons all over that could use the profits new tenants might bring.

[lagomorph777]

82. Mrs. McConnell might be able to provide some leverage, if properly squeezed.

[Evolve Dammit]

83. Are there any GOPers who aren't crooked as a dog's hind leg? It's like their religion. nt

[Mike Nelson]

86. Well...

... LOCK HER UP!

[The Wizard]

87. Use her corruption and duplicity

as leverage to keep Mitch from shutting down legislation to help the American people.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

88. I'm shocked...

...said no one who was paying attention.