U.S. charges Chinese nationals with schemes to steal info, punish critics and recruit spies
CBSN
Washington — The Justice Department on Monday unsealed charges in three separate cases accusing more than a dozen defendants, most of them Chinese officials, of participating in schemes to repatriate critics of the Chinese government, obtain secret information about a U.S. investigation into a Chinese telecom firm and recruit spies to act as agents of the Chinese regime in the U.S.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the charges alongside FBI Director Chris Wray and top Justice Department officials. Ten of the 13 individuals charged in the cases are Chinese officials, Wray said.
"As these cases demonstrate, the government of China sought to interfere with the rights and freedoms of individuals in the United States and to undermine our judicial system that protects those rights. They did not succeed," Garland said.
Washington — The Senate is closing in on a deal to fund the bulk of the Department of Homeland Security and end the partial government shutdown that has stretched six weeks and snarled air travel. Seiji Yamashita and Alan He contributed to this report.
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