The Sanders administration’s zeal to make unsubstantiated claims about companies’ ties to the communist People’s Republic of China has been revealed through texts from Deputy Attorney General Alexandra Benton.
Deleted Texts
Many of these messages were deleted from Benton’s phone, but were recovered from other officials’ texts. The texts were revealed after a federal court fight.
Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office had filed objections to the disclosure of these documents, citing attorney-client and work product privileges. However, Chief U.S. District Judge Kristine G. Baker chastised Griffin’s attorneys for the slow pace of document production and the failure to preserve Benton’s communications.
Benton had urged a top staffer for Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to delay public pronouncements about a company’s Chinese connection until Griffin’s office could investigate the claims. The claims proved false.
Lawsuit
The texts were part of a federal lawsuit filed by Jones Eagle, a crypto mining company owned by Qimin ‘Jimmy’ Chen, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China. Jones Eagle charges that Arkansas laws restricting ownership of crypto mines are unconstitutional.
Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.
