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The scrutiny for any potential vice-presidential candidate can be grueling and sometimes it does not always work out.
Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern chose Senator Tom Eagleton of Missouri as his vice-president candidate in 1972. Shortly thereafter, McGovern dumped Eagleton because he had received electric shock for depression and bipolar, and not disclosed his condition to McGovern or his search committee. Eagleton was replaced by Sargent Shriver, who was a brother-in-law to the late President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
One of those Kamala Harris is considering as her vice-president is Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. He is a former astronaut who served in the Navy and is married to former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.
One of the first stories to surface in a compelling argument was that Kelly could help Harris on the border issue. Harris is weak on the border because it is a train wreck issue in her portfolio. More than 60% of Americans disagree with the Biden-Harris border policy.
Kelly has been outspoken on the Biden-Harris policy and has been quite vocal about the border crises.
But, now as the vice-presidential search is underway, other stories have come into view.
One of his daughters was flagging drugs on her social media, which the senator called into question, as reported by Radar.
Now, the focus is on Kelly's spy balloon company when he was an astronaut that was funded by the Chinese.
The company specialized in spy balloons and was funded in part by venture capital in China with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, according to Fox News.
Kelly founded Word View in 2012 in Arizona with a vision of space tourism in balloons. That initial vision was later dropped.
"As we matured our technology, we recognized an opportunity for immediate use cases for our technology through remote sensing services to defense, scientific and commercial customers," a spokesperson for World View told Fox News.
"Today, our primary business remains providing remote sensing services to the US Department of Defense and her allies by way of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, as well as servicing scientific organizations like NASA, NOAA and others to better understand Earth from the unique atmospheric layer of the stratosphere."
Shortly after its launch in 2012, it was reported that World View got some venture capital funding from Tencent in 2013 and again in 2016. Tencent is one of the largest corporations in China and was founded in 1998 by Zhang Zhidong, "Pony" Ma Huateng, Xu Chenye, Chen Yidan and Zeng Liqing. "Pony" was listed as the fourth richest man in China last year and is the CEO of Tencent.
World View told the outlet that Tencent has "zero access, zero input, and zero control" over the spy balloon company. "The current leadership believed it was a mistake for the company to accept Chinese investment when it did," Word View said in a statement. However, the early investment from Tencent raises questions about Kelly being a candidate for VP, all things considered with spy balloons that have recently been spotted in the US.
Kelly left his position at World View in 2019. His remaining financial interest in the company is held in a blind trust, the company spokesperson said. When he left the company to focus on his senate run, he gave up all access, interest, and control of the company.
Arizona Republican strategist Daniel Scarpinato raised the Chinese link to Kelly with the New York Times.
"Mr. Kelly has also not faced the harsh spotlight of a national campaign, and has potential political liabilities like a high-altitude surveillance balloon company he helped found with Chinese venture capital," said Scarpinato.
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