(Article by Elise Ehrhard republished from WesternJournal.com)

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrest of Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar on a Federal RICO charge. The DOJ alleges Huizar accepted at least $1.5 million in illegal bribes from real estate developers in exchange for help securing approvals for large projects in Los Angeles.

According to the Justice Department’s complaint, the Democratic city councilman “operated a ‘pay-to-play’ scheme in which real estate developers funneled cash and other benefits to secure favorable treatment.”

Huizar allegedly solicited and accepted bribes from Chinese developers in particular.

The payments reportedly came in the form of “cash, political contributions, concert and sports tickets, flights on private jets, stays at luxurious hotels, casino gambling chips, expensive meals, and spa services,” according to Los Angeles Magazine.

Further, in 2014, a Chinese billionaire who was looking to build in Huizar’s district “allegedly facilitated the payment of $600,000 to help the councilman resolve a sexual harassment lawsuit” that was threatening his 2015 re-election campaign.

Four other defendants have already agreed to plead guilty in the multi-year investigation being conducted by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

According to the DOJ, if convicted on the RICO conspiracy charge, Huizar could face up to 20 years in prison.

“Mr. Huizar was busy enjoying the fruits of his alleged corruption while his criminal enterprise sold the city to the highest bidder behind the backs of taxpayers,” Paul Delacourt, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said.

If the allegations are true, Huizar follows in a long line of Democratic politicians involved in China-linked scandals.

The stench of Democratic involvement with the Chinese Communist Party goes all the way back to the Clinton’s Chinagate scandal in 1996.

Back then, investigations exposed how the Democratic National Committee had illegally received foreign donations from China during Bill Clinton’s presidency.

The Democratic party got away with their malfeasance then and their corrupt politicians continue to get away with it now. Even their party’s presidential candidate, Joe Biden, is knee-deep in China-tied corruption.

In 2013, his son Hunter Biden reportedly secured shady business dealings in China with his help. As the New York Post reported, “Joe Biden met with Hunter’s Chinese partners days before they established a new investment firm.”

Then there was the scandal involving California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who reportedly employed a driver for 20 years who turned out to be a Chinese spy.

If the allegations against Huizar are true, then we can add another Democrat, in this case one with influence in a major U.S. city, to the list of politicians on the illegal Chinese dole.

If you ever wonder why liberals cozy up to communist China, just follow the money.

Yet it is the democrats who repeatedly accuse their opponents of being bought off, usually citing legal campaign donations as evidence.

And, of course, the Democratic Party and its media allies have spent the last four years obsessed with the idea of “foreign interference.”

Democrats have been engaging in projection. The foreign interference is within their own party, yet the left is only sensitive about foreign interference in politics when they can manipulate it to try to get Trump.

Trump is one of the few politicians in the past 30 years to really take on the CCP. He has fought against China’s unfair trade practices and illegal activity. The Chinese Communist Party should fear him.

Needless to say, the Chinese Communist Party knows they don’t need to fear Democratic politicians.

Read more at: WesternJournal.com