The New York Times reports that Chao has blatantly leveraged her position in Trump's Cabinet to benefit her family's shipping business, the Foremost Group. In 2017, she had planned a visit to Beijing, ostensibly on government business, and has also arranged for members of the family to attend government meetings. This so alarmed the U.S. embassy that staffers there got in touch with the State Department to find out how to handle it. That visit was canceled, but according to this Politico article published last month, Chao has held at least a dozen interviews with Chinese media, with her father by her side, clearly associating his business with her position as transportation secretary.
...
Elaine Chao isn't just doing favors for her family business. She's helping out the hubby as well. In a separate report this week, Politico reported that "Chao designated a special liaison to help with grant applications and other priorities from her husband Mitch McConnell’s state of Kentucky, paving the way for grants totaling at least $78 million for favored projects as McConnell prepared to campaign for reelection." That liaison is now Chao's chief of staff. When asked about the report, McConnell smugly responded, “I was complaining to her just last night, 169 projects and Kentucky got only five. I hope we’ll do a lot better next year.”
