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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul described the scale of the alleged charges against her former deputy chief of staff Linda Sun as “absolutely shocking” Wednesday in an interview with Amna Nawaz, co-anchor of PBS News Hour and Semafor contributor.
Speaking at a Semafor event, Age and Access in the Social Media Era, Hochul told Nawaz that the federal charges against Sun and her husband — who were arrested Tuesday after being accused of secretly working for the Chinese government — should prompt other lawmakers to consider who they bring on staff: “Everyone should be aware where they are empowering with positions.”
Sun had worked in the state government for almost 15 years. The couple pleaded not guilty in Brooklyn federal court Tuesday to all the charges.
“She has been in government for many, many years, even prior to the time I became governor,” Hochul told Nawaz, referring to Sun’s time working for Hochul’s predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, “where she was involved in making a lot of decisions related to the relationship between the administration at the time and the Chinese government.”
“To think that China, that any foreign agent, any foreign government has the audacity to infiltrate a government organization like the state of New York, has to be addressed with and we’ll be talking more about what we want to see happen later today,” she added, without adding more details.
“It never should have happened.”
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Hochul was also asked about her apparent spat with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. During the Democratic National Convention in August, Pelosi appeared to blame the fact that Democrats lost control of the House in 2022 at least partly on Hochul’s performance in New York’s gubernatorial race, which she won by a narrower-than-expected margin.
Hochul fired back on Wednesday: “The same year we lost five seats in California. So I think there’s a broader analysis that would be justified.”
Hochul told Nawaz that she was “laser focused” on building up the state party and flipping at least five house seats to bolster a potential Democratic majority in congress in November, citing the example of Tom Suozzi re-winning his Long Island seat as a success story.