Biden's new clean energy czar said he has the 'highest regard' for CCP official, called him 'friend'

President Biden's new senior adviser on clean energy, longtime Democrat John Podesta, has close ties to top Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official Tung Chee-hwa.

Four days after Podesta left the White House as a counselor to President Obama in February 2015, his assistant, Eryn Sepp, informed him that he would be receiving a call on his "house line" from Tung Chee-hwa, who has been serving as a vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) since the early 2000s. The CPPCC is the "key mechanism for multi-party cooperation and political consultation" under the leadership of the CCP, according to the CPPCC website.

A few weeks later, Sepp and one of Tung’s assistants exchanged emails to set up another call between Podesta and Tung in early March 2015, a month before Clinton would announce her candidacy.