Two Republican candidates running to represent Michigan in Washington are running against Democratic opponents who signed nondisclosure agreements with Chinese Communist Party affiliated electric vehicle battery plants.

Former state representative and senator Tom Barrett and former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers attended a Monday press conference in Lansing to discuss the dangers of Chinese companies Gotion and Contemporary Amperex Technologies Inc. Both companies have taken millions of Michigan taxpayer dollars for their EV ventures in Michigan: Gotion in Green Charter Township, located outside Big Rapids in Mecosta County, and CATL’s joint program with Ford Motor Company in Marshall.

Barrrett is vying against Democrat Curtis Hertel for the Michigan 7th District seat in Washington currently occupied by Slotkin. Hertel is a former state senator, lobbyist, and legislative director for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Rogers is running to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow against Democrat U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin.

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The Republican press conference featured Michigan Republican Party Chairman and former Ambassador Pete Hoekstra and former Ambassador Joseph Cella as well as Barrett and Rogers.  Cella and Hoekstra head the Michigan-China Economic and Security Review Group.

All four men related the economic and national security perils of  companies closely associated with the CCP and Peoples Republic of China on Michigan soil. Although Slotkin last week waffled on Gotion and CATL, it was noted by The Midwesterner that she had previously signed a nondisclosure agreement with Gotion. On Monday, Barrett noted that Hertel had also signed an NDA with what was then called Project Elephant, but was in reality Gotion.

“You know a lot has been made about nondisclosure agreements that have been signed by whether that is Curtis Hertel while he was a member of the state Senate or Curtis Hertel while he was the chief lobbyist and legislative director for governor Gretchen Whitmer, Elissa Slotkin, member of Congress, and what was inherent within these nondisclosure agreements, secret deals, secret discussions being done behind the backs of constituents and colleagues who had a right to know what these discussions were about and instead they are done completely privately where they can’t even tell us what was done,” Barrett said.

“Well, we went back and looked at the disclosures that were done on the Foreign Agent Registry Act disclosures for Gotion and for their agents here in the United States,” Barrett continued. “It’s important to point out they’re gong to tell you that Gotion is just another run-of-the-mill mom-and-pop, apple pie and baseball company. Well guess what? You don’t have to register under FARA if you’re an American based company. You don’t have to recruit and register foreign agents if you’re an American based company. You only have to do that if you’re acting in concert with foreign governments, particularly those that are adversarial to the interests of the United States.”

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Barrett added that the only nondisclosure agreement he ever signed was for his security clearance in the U.S. Army.

“My opponent in this congressional race based on these disclosures would be ineligible for an intelligence briefing or a security clearance if he were to go into the United States military or serve in elected government,” he said. “He is running for the United States Congress and the most consequential and competitive congressional race in the country and would be ineligible for a security clearance because of what he has done. People need to bear that in mind these threats to national security are steeper than ever before.”

He continued: “War is breaking out across the world. We feel it and we see it. The Chinese are coming for us. We know that they’re engaging in economic warfare…. They’re insidiously embedding themselves into places here and into industry, into trade, and into commerce. Tens of thousands of fighting-age men, Chinese nationals, coming across our border. We are either going to stand ready and prepared against that or we’re going to lose this generational fight and give that up for our kids and grandkids. We simply can’t allow it to happen. This is far too serious of a problem. This is something that is a disqualifier for any person seeking public office to be engaged in this kind of behavior.”

In his comments, Rogers reiterated the concerns he related in a one-on-one conversation several weeks ago with The Midwesterner.

“We had foreign agents provide financial support to Elissa Slotkin and Curtis Hertel,” Rogers said Monday. “They signed nondisclosure agreements to … not have to disclose their conversations about their dealings to give cash and prizes to a company that is now tied to the Communist Party of China,” Rogers said.

Watch the full press conference here: