Rep. Harley Rouda reacts to Steel Family’s pay-to-play scheme connecting Chinese Communist Party Leaders with President Trump

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — Last year, Congressman Harley Rouda asked Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Michelle Steel to sign on to a pledge denouncing foreign interference in our elections. She refused. Now we know why.

An explosive Wall Street Journal investigation named Shawn Steel, of Shawn Steel Law Firm, as the key individual involved in a “pay-to-play” scheme to connect Chinese Communist Party leaders with President Trump. As Chief Financial Officer of Shawn Steel Law Firm, tasked with overseeing all financial transactions of the firm, Chairwoman Steel earned a $290,000 salary from the firm each of the last two years, and $325,000 from the firm the year before that. She has an obligation to explain her role in these allegations, and answer how their family profited off of dealings with the Communist Party of China.

Until Chairwoman Steel publicly comments on her husband’s financial dealings with Chinese Communist Party leaders, or his engagement in enabling foreign election interference, the Supervisor’s personal financial entanglements and professional record of complicity speak for themselves.