Pensler: “Rogers’ selfish pattern of using political influence to personally profit from partnerships with the Chinese Communist government against the interests of our country is wrong.”
LANSING — It’s been a terrible, no good, very bad week for Mike Rogers as he faces more scrutiny for selling out our national security to China so he could get rich. And on top of that? Republicans had some choice words to describe Rogers, including (but not limited to) “corrupt,” “wrong,” and the “worst Deep State candidate.”
Here’s the latest on the Michigan Republicans’ “brutal intraparty battle:”
- Going, going, gone (Michigan and our national security). Sold (to help Mike Rogers get richer). New reporting from the Detroit News finds that Mike Rogers has gained “hundreds of thousands of dollars in wealth through companies that have partnered with Chinese firms.”
- Pensler scrutinized “unprincipled career politician” Rogers’ “selfish pattern of using political influence to personally profit from partnerships with the Chinese Communist government against the interests of our country,” calling it “wrong” and “disgusting.”
- National security expert John Sipher attacked “grifter” Mike Rogers for making a fortune off of companies that have partnered with Chinese firms.
- And the award for “worst Deep State candidate” goes to… Mike Rogers. Republicans were quick to draw “immediate condemnation” of “corrupt” Rogers after Trump endorsed him.
- Amash didn’t hold back in saying how he really feels… calling Rogers a “corrupt politician” and “establishment stooge.” Amash went on to explain that “when voters get ahold of the Mike Rogers receipts, they’re going to do everything they can to return him to Florida.”
- Rand Paul “ripped” Trump for endorsing Rogers, saying “you have to ask yourself who gives Trump this awful advice?”
- Joe Walsh whacked Rogers for selling his soul because he wants “to be a U.S. Senator that badly.”
- Rogers weighs in on… *checks notes* Katespiracy?
- Seconded. Paul agreed with Trump ally Roger Stone who called “corrupt Deep State” Rogers the “most dangerous” “phony running for office.”
- Amash pulled out the receipts, slamming “crooked politician” Rogers for having the “worst record of anyone I served with in Congress” and being one of the “chief architects” for the “surveillance state.”
- Edward Snowden bashed Rogers for having the worst record out of “anyone.”
- Rogers and Meijer in a “sticky wicket?” Likely place for them to be. Reporters called out Rogers and Meijer who are “scrambling” over their dangerous anti-IVF records.
- As Donald Trump again proposes cutting Social Security and Medicare, Mike Rogers, Peter Meijer, Sandy Pensler, and Justin Amash have all echoed Trump’s disastrous call to gut Social Security.
See for yourself:
Detroit News: Mike Rogers targets China in Senate campaign, but his own connections draw criticism
- Former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers has made criticizing China a centerpiece of his campaign for the Senate, but the GOP candidate and his wife have gained hundreds of thousands of dollars in wealth through companies that have partnered with Chinese firms.
- … [Rogers’] wife is on the board of a company that’s touted its partnership with a China-based entity. And Rogers himself briefly worked for AT&T, which faced pushback for its entanglements with a Chinese telecom giant.
- The circumstance points to the business relationships that Rogers engaged in over the last decade as a prominent ex-lawmaker, apparently making himself a multi-millionaire, according to a financial disclosure, with a waterfront home in Florida, but potentially complicating his Senate bid in the battleground state of Michigan.
- “Rogers’ selfish pattern of using political influence to personally profit from partnerships with the Chinese Communist government against the interests of our country is disgusting,” Pensler said.
- In 2012, Rogers, who was then-the House intelligence chairman, co-authored a report on Chinese telecommunications companies, specifically saying Huawei Technologies “may be violating United States laws.”
- Rogers voiced concerns about the Chinese government using its power to get access to information held by Huawei.
- Rogers didn’t seek reelection to the U.S. House in 2014 and began working at some point in 2016, about two years later, as chief security adviser for AT&T, a company that drew criticism, around that same time, from federal lawmakers for its connections with Huawei.
- The publication Fortune in August 2017 reported that Huawei was “on the verge” of a deal with AT&T to sell Huawei’s phones in the U.S.
- Then, in January 2018, the effort collapsed, and Reuters reported that U.S. lawmakers were pressuring AT&T to “cut commercial ties” with Huawei.
- In the two years before launching his Senate campaign in 2023, Rogers made $460,000 with Nokia, according to his required financial disclosure.
- In January, Nokia announced it was selling its own stake in a China-based venture it was involved in with Huawei.
- Meanwhile, Rogers’ personal wealth has spiked since he left the U.S. House at the beginning of 2015… His 2013 financial disclosure listed him as having up to $380,000 in personal assets.
- His 2023 disclosure, required to be filed as he launched his Senate campaign, listed Rogers having a potential maximum of $11.3 million in assets that he controlled or he and his wife jointly controlled. He disclosed nearly $2 million in income over the previous two-year period, including $460,000 from Nokia and $724,887 through a Virginia-based firm called IronNet Cybesecurity.
The Hill: Paul rips Trump for endorsing ‘worst Deep State candidate this cycle’
- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) ripped former President Trump on Monday for endorsing former House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Rogers’s (R-Mich.) bid for Senate, slamming the former congressman as the “worst Deep State candidate this cycle.”
- “You have to ask yourself who gives Trump this awful advice?…” he asked…
Politico: “The Katespiracy discourse has reached U.S. politics… Mike Rogers, the former House Intel chair who is now running for Senate in Michigan, said in an interview on the Michigan’s Big Show radio program that he hopes the Princess of Wales’ ‘health is good’ when asked about the royal family conspiracy theory that has taken over headlines…”
Off the Record: Mike Rogers and Peter Meijer’s extensive anti-IVF records
Off the Record: Mike Rogers refusing to answer for his past IVF votes and “punt[ing]” questions
The Gander: GOP Senate candidates’ records suggest they’d back cuts to Social Security and Medicare
- Three Republican candidates running to represent Michigan in the US Senate have voiced support for slashing Social Security or Medicare benefits, which more than 2 million Michiganders rely on to afford housing, utility bills, groceries, prescription drugs, and more.
- During his time in Congress, Rogers voted in support of a federal budget plan that sought to replace Medicare’s guarantee of coverage with a voucher-based program, raise the age of eligibility from 65 to 67, and shift substantial treatment costs to Medicare beneficiaries. Under this plan, Michigan seniors would have had to spend more out-of-pocket on healthcare expenses.
- Rogers also voted in support of legislation to limit prescription drug benefits for Medicare recipients, and voted against giving Medicare the power to negotiate prescription drug prices directly with drug companies.
- During a recent radio appearance, Meijer, like Trump, referred to Social Security and Medicare as “entitlements” rather than hard-earned benefits, noting that the federal government needs to make changes to both programs to prevent them from becoming insolvent in the future.
- “Congress has, you know, just completely ignored trying to make, trying to get to the point where Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid don’t go bankrupt,” Meijer said.
- … Meijer and some other Republicans have endorsed raising the retirement age or reducing benefits to address the programs’ long-term solvency…
- [Amash] voted in support of budget bills that would’ve raised the retirement age for Social Security. He also voted in support of Trump’s 2017 corporate tax cut, the so-called Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which increased the federal deficit—the growth of which threatens future funding for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and more.
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