Last Updated on May 28, 2025
Tucker Carlson was joined by former Department of Commerce Undersecretary Corey Stewart to discuss AT&T’s decision to lobby the U.S. government so it could continue to work with the Chinese Communist Party-controlled China Telecom, as was exclusively reported first by National File.
“We’ve confirmed that AT&T lobbied the Department of Commerce not to levy sanctions against China Telecom, which is a large state owned corporation headquartered in Beijing. This was first reported by the National File,” said Carlson.
As National File reported exclusively, China Telecom was set to be placed on the Entity List, a blacklist of foreign companies owned or operated by bad actors who are not allowed to work with American businesses without obtaining special permission. This decision was met with disapproval from former RNC chair Ed Gillespie, who called the Trump administration’s Department of Commerce to lobby on behalf of AT&T and the CCP-controlled company.
Corey Stewart, who served as the Undersecretary of Commerce for the Trump administration, joined Carlson to discuss this further.
“It was very disturbing, we had a lot of indications, there was very good intelligence out there, that the Chinese government, through its state owned subsidiary of China Telecom, has been using cell phone technology, telecommunications technology, to track minority populations in China, to spy on them, and then to hand this information over to the China police state,” Stewart explained.
Tucker Carlson was joined by Corey Stewart to discuss AT&T lobbying the U.S. Government to allow it to work with a CCP-owned telecom giant, as was originally reported by National File. pic.twitter.com/l0DexMOeqA
— National File (@NationalFile) February 25, 2021
“And they’re rounding up the Uyghur population,” said Stewart. “As well as Tibetans and other minorities, and placing these people in essentially modern day concentration camps.”
“There’s widespread reports of gang rapes, of torture, other human rights abuses, potentially even executions and genocide occuring in these camps. And China Telecom was assisting the government of China, and helping to do that.”
“We were contacted by [former RNC Chair] Ed Gillespie, the executive vice president of AT&T, who urged us not to place China Telecom, despite these abuses, on the entity list,” said Stewart. “Needless to say, we were pretty much shocked by that.”
When Carlson asked Stewart why AT&T would risk its reputation in the international business community, and its subsidiary CNN’s reputation as a news organization that speaks for minorities and oppressed peoples, Stewart suggested it only seems logical if you assume this reputation is based on lies.
“It doesn’t make sense, unless you assume that despite what CNN and its corporate parent say about standing up for minorities and human rights, if it’s all a lie,” said Stewart. “What they’re actually doing is placing profit over and above human rights, over and above U.S. national security concerns.”
https://youtu.be/9ulEBM84r64
National File recently obtained the statement in which AT&T excuses their collaboration with a company completely controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
“Without a relationship with a licensed Chinese communications company, no non-Chinese provider can serve U.S. companies operating in China,” wrote AT&T, defending their decision to do business with a regime infamous for the ethnic cleansing of the Uyghur ethnic minority.
“We and other companies explained this to the Commerce Department and other government officials to inform their policy decision about potential unintended consequences of placing China Telecom on the entities list,” AT&T admitted.
