Republicans are calling on Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin to come clean about what she knew from secret negotiations to bring a Chinese battery component manufacturer to Michigan, and when.

The Detroit News, meanwhile, is “running interference for (her) campaign” to replace U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, said Rick Gorka, consultant for Slotkin’s Republican competition, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers.

“What we know is Slotkin signed her (nondisclosure agreement with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation) in January 2022,” Gorka said. “There’s nothing in the NDA Slotkin signed that excluded the Gotion plant.”

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The plant, approved by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s MEDC to receive $715 million in taxpayer-funded incentives, has become a flashpoint in the 2024 election, as Republicans have united with local residents to raise serious concerns about the company’s close ties to the Chinese Communist Party, slave labor in the supply chain, implications for national security and the auto industry, and the environmental impact from the planned Big Rapids facility that’s expected to withdraw 715,000 gallons of water per day.

It has also sparked online spats between Republicans like Gorka and reporters parsing the semantics of the debate on behalf of Slotkin.

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"The Recipient shall hold any Development Project Information in confidence and shall not share any Development Project Information with any third parties."

This line does not exclude Gotion! The point is valid, MEDC was working with Gotion while Slotkin was under an NDA.

— Rick Gorka (@Rick_Gorka) September 11, 2024

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While the deal was not officially announced until Oct. 5, 2022, before MEDC’s NDAs were amended to specifically name the Gotion project, the NDA signed by Slotkin in January 2022 stated she must “hold any Development Project Information in confidence and shall not share any Development Project Information with any third parties.”

“We have a period of 11 months where Gotion was very much within the MDEC,” with its negotiations covered by Slotkin’s NDA, Gorka said. “It’s a very simple, ‘What did you know, and when did you know it?’

“Why it’s problematic for Slotkin is her evolution on this issue,” he said. “I think she’s realizing this is a political liability and trying to create distance.”

Slotkin’s campaign has taken aim at claims from Rogers’ camp that the NDA was signed with Gotion, when it’s technically a MDEC document designed to cover negotiations with the company and others. Slotkin’s NDA did not specifically cite Gotion, but was instead worded more broadly to cover all secret economic development negotiations with the Whitmer administration and lawmakers.

“Rep. Slotkin never signed any agreement related to the Gotion project or the Chinese government,” Slotkin spokesman Antoine Givens told The Detroit News.

As public opposition to Gotion in Michigan has grown, Slotkin has become more critical of Chinese companies doing business in the U.S. She told a reporter with MIRS earlier this month there should have been a “proper national security vetting” before Michigan inked its incentive deal, The Detroit News reports.

“To me, until there’s a national security vetting, I don’t love the moving forward of any project, or any sale of farmland … I believe that we need to not just think about economics, but also about the national security implications of Chinese affiliated companies,” Slotkin told MIRS at a Lapeer campaign event.

When a reporter attempted to follow up for clarification on her stance on the Gotion plant at a separate event in Lansing, Slotkin didn’t have time to talk, according to The News.

“As shocking as Slotkin’s great awakening is, we really shouldn’t be all that surprised,” Rogers said on social media in response. “Her record is one of going whichever way the polls take her.”

“Slotkin doesn’t want to be forthcoming and doesn’t want to be honest,” Gorka said. “I think a lot of Michiganders would be upset with a Chinese company planting a flag in Michigan and attacking the auto industry.

“I think she owes it to voters … to be clear on her position,” he said. “If there’s nothing to hide, then why are we on week two or week three trying to figure out where Slotkin is on this issue.”

Michigan Republican Party Chairman Pete Hokestra said at a press conference last week Republicans “believe in public service, where you’re dealing with taxpayer money, NDAs are just bad policy, especially when you’re dealing with the Chinese Communist Party.”

The party is united in opposition to the Gotion plant, which has also faced criticism from former President Donald Trump.

Trump last month wrote in a post to Truth Social that “the Gotion plant would be very bad for the State and our Country.

“It would put Michiganders under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing,” the post read. “I AM 100% OPPOSED!”

The U.S. House of Representatives seemed to agree last week, when all members including Slotkin voted unanimously to ban the Department of Homeland Security from procuring electric batteries produced by certain Chinese entities.

The Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act of 2024 specifically names Gotion.

“American tax dollars should never be used to further the Chinese Communist Party’s hopes to dominate key technologies at our expense,” Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., hair of the Select Committee on the CCP, said in a statement. “That’s why I am proud to co-sponsor the Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act which would stop the Department of Homeland Security from using American taxpayer dollars to purchase Gotion, CATL, or other Chinese batteries. Our military has already banned these batteries and DHS should do the same.”