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I’m not saying Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao resigned after the January 6 Capitol Hill riot just because she owed the DC team a favor following the post-election meeting between her husband, Mitch McConnell, and Attorney General Bill Barr; who just happened to *not* take up the ethics probe of Chao following the same meeting (noted below left), but….. It sure does look sketchy. Let me explain… HatTip Ziiggii and Ben. Today The Hill is reporting on an internal DC investigation into Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao for ethics issues while she was in office. [READ HERE] The Department of Justice declined...

The Transportation Department’s watchdog asked the Justice Department to criminally investigate Elaine Chao late last year after it determined she had misused her office when she was transportation secretary under President Donald Trump but was rebuffed, according to a report released Wednesday. The report said the Justice Department’s criminal and public integrity divisions declined in December to take up the case for criminal prosecution following the inspector general’s findings that Chao inappropriately used her staff and office for personal tasks and to promote a shipping business owned by Chao’s father and sisters. That company does extensive business with China. “A...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to never speak to President Donald Trump again. The Washington Post reported this detail in a story describing how the president has alienated his allies in Washington with the way he handled Wednesday's riot on Capitol Hill. McConnell, the Senate's top Republican who will become minority leader once new Democratic Sens. Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock are sworn in, had been 'estranged' from Trump in recent weeks, The Post wrote.

President Trump threatened on Wednesday to take the unprecedented step of adjourning Congress with his executive powers so he can make recess appointments of stalled nominees. Speaking at the daily White House coronavirus task force briefing, Mr. Trump said his administration has been hamstrung by a lack of personnel because Senate Democrats have held up nominees. He criticized the Senate and House for holding “phony” pro forma sessions, instead of adjourning, which prevents him from making recess appointments.

Tomorrow, Japan's Emperor Naruhito will proclaim his succession to the Chrysanthemum Throne in an enthronement ceremony. ... Notably, U.S. transportation secretary Elaine Chao is expected to attend. (Previously Vice President Mike Pence was supposed to travel to Japan for the ceremony, but a change was made somewhat last minute). Prince Charles will also be there, representing the United Kingdom—he previously attended Akihito's enthronement ceremony with Princess Diana—as will other members of royal families throughout the world such as: King Jigme and Queen Jetsun of Bhutan, Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, and King Felipe and Queen...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that if the House impeaches President Trump he will “have no choice” but to hold a trial in the Senate and a vote on removing the president from office. His comments in an interview with CNBC confirm the position he took in an interview with NPR in March, and the conclusion of a Senate staff memo that was obtained by HuffPost. “Under the Senate rules we’re required to take it up if the House does go down that path, and we’ll follow the Senate rules,” McConnell said Monday. “It’s a Senate rule related...

The House Oversight and Reform Committee on Monday launched an investigation into Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao over whether she is using her office to benefit herself and her family. The investigation follows a series of reports alleging that Chao used her role in the Trump administration to boost Foremost Group, a shipping company founded by her father, and initially didn't divest from stock in a major construction company. “The Committee is examining your misstatements of fact, your actions that may have benefitted the company in which you continued to hold shares, and your compliance with ethics and financial disclosure requirements,”...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell showered his wife, Elaine Chao, with praise Thursday night, over her confrontation with protesters who wanted the Kentucky Republican to answer for immigrant children being separated from their parents at the U.S. southern border. Chao, who serves as transportation secretary, told the demonstrators to “leave my husband alone” as the couple departed an event at Georgetown University on Wednesday evening. McConnell explained he told his wife to hop into the waiting car, but Chao leapt into action....

[full title] REVEALED: Mitch McConnell’s In-Laws Bought 10 Massive Ships from the Chinese Government Since His Wife Elaine Chao Became Transportation Secretary Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) in-laws have ordered 10 massive cargo ships from the Chinese government since the senator’s wife Elaine Chao became Secretary of Transportation. The deep financial ties between the Chao family’s shipping business Foremost Group and the Chinese regime were first revealed in the #1 New York Times bestseller Secret Empires.Foremost has yet to disclose the financial details of its latest deals with CSSC. Similar transactions with CSSC have recently cost over $47 million...

Peter Schweizer, who delved into the Clinton Foundation’s dealings in 2016’s “Clinton Cash,” has turned his sights to the money-making machinations of DC’s political elite. His new book, “Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends,” — due out Tuesday from Harper Collins — exposes how politicians engage in “corruption by proxy” by exploiting family and business ties to enrich themselves and their relatives. Here, The Post’s Larry Getlen details the book’s revelations on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, ex-Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and others: In 2004, current Senate...

SAN FRANCISCO - The Trump administration announced Monday that it will fully fund a $650 million federal grant for electrification of a San Francisco Bay Area train system that also would help California's high-speed rail project.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao quashed rumors Wednesday night that President Donald Trump's administration and GOP lawmakers would wait to unveil a plan for infrastructure revitalization until 2018. Though it still might take that long to get legislation through Capitol Hill, Chao announced at a department event in Washington that a $1 trillion infrastructure proposal would be unveiled by the end of the year. She teased a "strategic, targeted program of investment valued at $1 trillion over 10 years," according to Reuters. "The proposal will cover more than transportation infrastructure. It will include energy, water and potentially broadband and veterans...

In the first big hit to the Bay Area from the Trump administration, newly minted Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has put the brakes on $647 million for Caltrain to go electric — and in the process pretty much killed for high-speed rail coming to San Francisco anytime soon. “It puts the (electrification) project in serious jeopardy,” Caltrain spokesman Seamus Murphy said Friday. Caltrain carries about 60,000 riders a day between the South Bay and San Francisco, but its diesel-driven trains are both costly to operate and slow. Officials see electrification as a way both to increase ridership and save money...

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao had been on the job only a few weeks when she took action on one of the region's most intractable problems and directed millions in federal transit dollars be withheld from the District, Maryland and Virginia until they create a safety agency to oversee D.C.'s subway, Metro. Chao was making good on a threat by her predecessor, Anthony Foxx, a move that surprised some local officials who had hoped that the jurisdictions had shown enough progress to stave off the action. It's too soon to say whether Chao's action is a sign she will continue...

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump has selected Elaine L. Chao, the former Labor secretary under George W. Bush, to head the Department of Transportation, elevating someone who has been a fixture of the Republican establishment in Washington to a post that could become integral to shaping one of the most ambitious parts of Mr. Trump’s agenda. Mr. Trump, a real estate magnate, has said infrastructure redevelopment is a priority. And Ms. Chao has experience — politically and personally — in navigating the competing centers of power in the capital. She is married to Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky...

(CNN)President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Elaine Chao, the former labor secretary and wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to be his choice for transportation secretary, an official briefed on the matter told CNN on Tuesday. The announcement is expected to come this afternoon. Chao served as secretary of labor under President George W. Bush from 2001 through 2009 -- the longest tenure in the position since World War II -- and has been married to McConnell since 1993. She was the first Asian-American woman to serve in a Cabinet position. Chao also served as the deputy secretary of transportation...

WASHINGTON – A Democratic operative deleted her Twitter account Monday following a series of what some called racist remarks about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao. Chao, former U.S. Labor Secretary under President George W. Bush, is Asian. Kathy Groob, who describes herself as an “advocate for women in politics,” sent a series of tweets related to Chao at a political event Saturday. According to WKMS, Groob sent the tweets in response to comments McConnell made at the event, in which he referred to his wife as "the only Kentucky woman who served in a president’s cabinet." In...

A crucial system for making payments to insurers from the federal Obamacare marketplace, HealthCare.gov, has yet to be built, a senior government IT official admitted Tuesday. The official, Henry Chao, visibly stunned Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) when he said under questioning that a significant fraction of that online insurance marketplace has yet to be constructed. (Read more: Low-bamacare enrollment) Getty Images Henry Chao, deputy CIO and deputy director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Office of Information Services, testifies during a hearing before the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "We still need...

Cmte. Chair Darrell Issa (R-CA) holds another in a series of hearings on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the rollout of the government's healthcare website. The administration says the website will be fixed by the end of November.

NOTE The following snippet is a quote: losangeles.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel11/la050911.htm Southern California Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Convictions in Smuggling Schemes, Including Plot to Bring Surface-to-Air Missiles Into United States LOS ANGELES—A Southern California man was sentenced this morning to 25 years in federal prison after being convicted on a series of federal charges related to schemes to smuggle many items into the United States, including surface-to-air missiles designed to shoot down aircraft. Yi Qing Chen, 49, of Rosemead, California, received the 300-month sentence from United States District Judge Dale S. Fischer. Last October, following a two-week trial, a...