American Journalist Charged In Anti-CCP Espionage ‘Sting’

An American journalist has been accused of working for a member of the Chinese intelligence service seeking to steal classified information from the United States government. 

The Justice Department charged Thomas Pauken II earlier this year with acting as a foreign agent for the government of China from 2019 to 2026 without notifying the attorney general. Pauken, who moved to China in 2010, is accused of aiding a member of China’s Ministry of State Security in a scheme to recruit a Trump administration employee, according to court documents. 

An affidavit from the FBI reveals that Pauken, who works for the Chinese state media outlet Xinhua News, was arrested after an apparent FBI sting operation in February. The affidavit says that Pauken met with an unidentified Trump administration employee on February 25, 2026, at a hotel in Washington, D.C. 

At this meeting, Pauken gave the employee a SIM card and offered to pay a $10,000 bonus if the person agreed to work for a Ministry of State Security agent named “Cathy,” according to the affidavit. The employee would be paid through a bogus nonprofit and would produce reports for Chinese President Xi Jinping that would shape policy. 

The FBI recorded the meeting, and Pauken allegedly said that he had been concerned he was being targeted in a “sting operation.” This fear stemmed from previous interviews in January 2025 with the FBI and Customs and Border Protection during another trip Pauken made to the United States. He was questioned about work for China during those interviews, but was told to continue his plans as scheduled. The FBI said it was concerned that Pauken would be endangered if he changed his plans. 

Pauken previously met with the unidentified official in the summer of 2023 when that person was preparing for a prospective job with a potential second Trump administration. That person “was not hired for the exact job he wanted in the administration but currently works for a U.S. government agency,” the FBI said. 

“Cathy paid Pauken for information about the meeting and was instructed to buy the person a phone and laptop,” the FBI said. Pauken told the FBI “he was 80% sure that Person 1 would provide classified information” to the Chinese if hired by the Trump administration, but advised against sharing the information, according to the affidavit. The unidentified person produced multiple reports for Pauken that he believed were for a client in China, unaffiliated with the government, according to the FBI. 

Charles Burnham, who is representing Pauken, noted in an email to The Daily Wire that he was not facing spying charges. 

“It’s critical to understand that Mr. Pauken is not charged with spying or mishandling classified information,” he told The Daily Wire. “The government’s complaint charges that Mr. Pauken did professional work for a foreign government without first completing certain required paperwork.  We look forward to responding to the government’s allegations in court.”

The case was first reported on by POLITICO. 

The FBI alleges that Pauken worked for the Chinese government from 2019 to February 2026 and received several tasks from Cathy, including meeting with potential human sources in the United States and producing reports, for which he was paid $100,000.

Pauken “admitted during a voluntary interview that his work with Cathy — as well as other individuals whom he admitted also worked for the PRC government — was part of a conspiracy to obtain classified information from the United States government,” the affidavit said. 

The FBI said that Pauken told them “all his Chinese associates were obsessed with obtaining information on” his father, also named Thomas Pauken. The elder Pauken worked in the Reagan administration and is a former chair of the Texas Republican Party.

Pauken used the alias Tom McGregor in China because his father “did not want to appear associated” with his “activities,” according to the FBI.