Dem-Gaz brings receipts showing governor's office lied about land purchasers' inexistent Chinese ties
Remember back in the summer of 2024 when Arkansas’ agriculture secretary made the specious suggestion that a Fort Smith industrial property purchase by an American suitcase manufacturer was actually probably a sinister Chinese spy operation?
Gov. Sarah Sanders and her team burst into xenophobic overdrive at the opportunity to fear-monger over purported threats from communist China, blustering that the property’s proximity to a National Guard base catapulted this Fort Smith real estate transaction to the level of a national security concern.
There is “reasonable suspicion of ownership ties with China and the Chinese Communist Party as well as national security concerns associated with the site’s proximity to Ebbing Air National Guard Base,” Sanders and Agriculture Secretary Wes Ward said in their now laughable July 23, 2024, letter to Attorney General Tim Griffin, requesting an investigation.
Within weeks, of course, the ruse was up. Griffin put out a statement on Aug. 13, 2024, confirming they had not uncovered any Chinese ties. There was no plot here by the Chinese Communist Party to manufacture or distribute exploding suitcases in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Snip
https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2026/06/18/dem-gaz-brings-receipts-showing-governors-office-lied-about-land-purchasers-inexistent-chinese-ties
If Gov Sanders has lost the Dem-Gazette then anything is possible.