‘Blood Money’: Why Mitch McConnell Won’t Talk About China’s Drug War Against America
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) often lectures his Senate colleagues on the urgency of continuing to fund Ukraine’s war against Russia, but there’s an issue more urgent to the American people he has not adequately addressed, according to Breitbart News Senior Contributor Peter Schweizer’s new book Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans.
In Blood Money, Schweizer reveals China’s “Disintegration Warfare” plans to kill Americans and sow social chaos, detailing shocking evidence that China is intentionally and systematically exporting deadly fentanyl into the United States.
Despite that war raging in communities across America and claiming hundreds of thousands of lives, Schweizer writes that McConnell has never made China’s role supplying fentanyl a priority.
McConnell’s family, through his wife Elaine Chao’s father-in-law, has strong financial ties with the Chinese government, Schweizer explains. He says further that McConnell would put his family’s finances at risk by holding China’s leaders to account for what they’ve done to the American people. He writes:
The Chao family runs an international shipping business that is heavily dependent on the good graces of the Chinese government. The family businesses, Foremost Group and its subsidiaries, do considerable work with some of the companies named in this book, including Hutchison Port Holdings, which operates ports around the world and as we’ve shown, has been the subject of concern for decades about smuggling activities.
Hutchison enjoys a close working relationship with the Chinese government and military while conducting significant business with the Chao family businesses, Schweizer documents in his book. He also reveals that the company has deep ties with Chinese organized crime. And Hutchison has been flagged by U.S. officials for problems with smuggling weapons and other prohibited items, according to U.S. government reports he cites.
Elaine Chao (center) is flanked by her father (left) and her husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, (right) during her confirmation hearing to be the U.S. Secretary of Transportation on January 11, 2017, in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The December 2017 signing ceremony between the Chao family’s Foremost Group and the state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC)
In Mexico, Hutchison controls and operates the international terminals in Manzanillo and Puerto de Lazaro Cardenas. U.S. officials believe 90 percent of fentanyl precursors arriving in Mexico from China come through Manzanillo alone, Schweizer writes. And the fentanyl produced there ends up in American communities.
A member of the Mexican Navy checks suspicious shipments for possible drugs at the pre-inspection area of the SSA precinct for detection of illicit substances in Manzanillo, Colima state, Mexico, on July 19, 2023. (ULISES RUIZ/AFP via Getty Images)
“The family’s dependence on Beijing’s favor for the operation of their business is real,” Schweizer says. “Were Senator McConnell to take action that angered the Chinese leadership, they could effectively destroy the Chao family business overnight.”
In 2019, when the opioid crisis was already responsible for tens of thousands of deaths – including in McConnell’s home state of Kentucky, which was particularly hard hit – the Washington Post asked the Republican leader what he had done to deal with the fentanyl crisis. According to Blood Money, “McConnell’s office told the paper that he had ‘taken meaningful steps to address the opioid crisis, including holding roundtables in his home state.’ He had also ‘led an effort in 2015 and again in 2018 to address opioid addiction in pregnant women.'”
On Wednesday, McConnell announced that he will step down from his leadership position in the Senate later this year.
Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans is available now in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.
McConnell Announces Upcoming Retirement as Republican Leader: ‘It’s Time for the Next Generation of Leadership’
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will step down from his leadership position later this year, he announced Wednesday on the Senate floor, saying “Father Time remains undefeated” and “it’s time for the next generation of leadership.”
McConnell, already the longest serving Senate party leader in history, will step down at the end of this Congress in early January 2025.
“I turned 82 last week,” a noticeably exhausted McConnell told the Senate Chamber. “The end of my contributions are closer than I prefer.”
WATCH — Exclusive – Donald Trump: Mitch McConnell Health Problems “Sad,” He Should Step Down:
Matthew Perdie / Breitbart News, Jack Knudsen / Breitbart NewsMcConnell reminisced “with deep appreciation” about the days after his 1985 arrival in the Senate (although he said 1984 in his speech), acknowledging those years “helped shape (his) view of the world” while acknowledging he is now out of place.
The Senate veteran said he remains “unconflicted about the good within our country, and the irreplaceable role we play as the leader of the free world. It’s why I worked so hard to get the national security package passed earlier this month.”
The fight earlier in February over that foreign aid and pro-migration package — which failed to achieve majority support among Senate Republicans — highlighted McConnell’s increasingly out-of-step position among Republican Senators and voters. McConnell partnered with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to prioritize the package over overwhelming opposition inside his party.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) pose for a photo at the U.S. Capitol on July 27, 2023, in Washington, DC. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
“Believe me, I know the politics within my party at this particular moment in time,” McConnell said. “I have many faults. Misunderstanding politics is not one of them.”
“But now it’s 2024. As Ecclesiastes tells us, to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven,” he continued. “One of life’s most under-appreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter. So I stand before you today, Mr. President and my colleagues, to say this will be my last term as Republican leader.”
McConnell’s health problems have added to scrutiny of his ongoing leadership. In addition to falls and unexplained bruising, on two occasions within the past year he froze before crowds and cameras, unable to move or speak for a half minute or so and requiring colleagues to help him slowly shuffle away.
WATCH — Mitch McConnell Freezes Mid-Speech, Led Away from Podium:
C-SPANRegardless of questions about his health, McConnell pledged to continue to serve out his Senate term, which expires in January 2027, when he will be 85 years old.
“I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. I’ll complete my job my colleagues have given me until we select a new leader in November and they take the helm next January. I’ll finish the job that the people of Kentucky hired me to do as well, albeit from a different seat. And I’m actually looking forward to that.”
While McConnell’s resignation will meet with approval by some of his colleagues, his timeline might not. “Why wait so long?” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) asked. “We need new leadership now.”
Yet McConnell appears determined to remain atop Republican leadership through the November elections, and will probably be able to do so. Senate Republicans will huddle after those elections to choose new leadership for the next Congress.
“I still have enough gas in my tank to thoroughly disappoint my critics,” he said. “And I intend to do so with all the enthusiasm with which they’ve become accustomed.”
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.
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