American journalist charged with acting as an agent for the Chinese government

+ Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu --> Newsletters NPR Shop Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Planet Money Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics American journalist charged with acting as an agent for the Chinese government The FBI alleged in federal court that an American journalist who worked for Chinese state media illegally acted as an agent for the Chinese government. Law American journalist charged with acting as an agent for the Chinese government May 27, 20264:39 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition Steve Inskeep American journalist charged with acting as an agent for the Chinese government Listen &middot; 3:46 3:46 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5834361/nx-s1-9786646" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript The FBI alleged in federal court that an American journalist who worked for Chinese state media illegally acted as an agent for the Chinese government. Sponsor Message STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: We've learned in recent days of a man charged with doing something like spying for China. Thomas Pauken II is accused of working for China without registering as a foreign agent. He's been in custody since February and is due in court on Friday. POLITICO's Josh Gerstein broke this story of a man between two worlds - one of the people who make their living between the United States and China.

+ JOSH GERSTEIN: He is a American journalist. He describes himself as sort of a geopolitical consultant. He has lived in China for the last decade and a half or so and seems to have operated kind of on the fringes of Republican politics and kind of MAGA politics since Trump came on the scene. INSKEEP: What is it that the government alleges that he did that was illegal? GERSTEIN: So the U.S. government is alleging that Pauken acted as an unregistered foreign agent for China. He's not exactly charged with spying or espionage, but he is charged with working pretty much directly for someone who the FBI believes is part of China's spy apparatus, a handler, basically, for the Ministry of State Security in China. The claim is that Pauken was involved in transporting some cellphones and maybe a laptop with encryption technology on it and trying to deliver it to someone else who was vying for a job in the Trump administration. INSKEEP: There's so many fascinating details in this story, and here is one. You note that the FBI, once they found out about this man, tried to make him a double agent, according to the court filings. GERSTEIN: Right. So it sounds like after they first intercepted Pauken at the airport when he was coming in from China in January 2025, they sent him on his way. And then, apparently, Pauken returned in February of this year, and that's when things sort of amped up. He had a bunch of meetings in the U.S., and it sounds like he was involved in setting up some type of sting operation against that person who did eventually get some type of job in the Trump administration at a hotel in Washington in February of this year. Exactly what the outcome of that sting operation was is not totally clear. We know that Pauken was arrested soon after happened, and what happened with the person who had the job in the Trump administration isn't described in this court affidavit. INSKEEP: Are we maybe finding out why he is only accused of failing to register as a lobbyist as opposed to being accused of spying? GERSTEIN: It could be that maybe he cooperated with the FBI to a degree that they're willing to pursue a lesser charge against him. Pauken's attorney is basically describing this as kind of a paperwork violation - that he didn't file the proper papers with the U.S. government to represent China or to act on their behalf in the U.S. I have to say the kinds of activities they're alleging seem to me to go beyond the kind of lobbying that is normally the kind of thing that you would file a registration over. INSKEEP: Is it surprising at all that the Trump administration has been willing to pursue this person, given that he does seem to be politically aligned with the president? GERSTEIN: Well, it's surprising for a couple of reasons. One is, as you mentioned, he certainly seems to be sort of a MAGA personality. When you look at a lot of Pauken's commentary online, it's very, very supportive of the Trump administration. It's also interesting because the Trump administration has not pursued a lot of these foreign influence and foreign agent-type cases. So it's notable that this is one case where they've taken this very seriously both running some kind of sting operation and then arresting this individual after he returned to the U.S. earlier this year. INSKEEP: Josh Gerstein of POLITICO. Thanks so much. GERSTEIN: Happy to do it, Steve. Take care. Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{1169:function(e,n,c){e.exports=c(321)},321:function(e,n,c){"use strict";c.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([c.e(1),c.e(2),c.e(3),c.e(4),c.e(82)]).then(function(e){c(3),c(1141),c(116),c(95),c(52),c(491),c(240),c(102),c(104),c(1142),c(144),c(1143),c(239),c(48),c(1144)}.bind(null,c)).catch(c.oe)}},[[1169,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();