FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 7, 2020
Contact: Ally Livingston, alivingston@jeanneshaheen.org

On WMUR, Messner defended his work on behalf of Chinese government by saying it was “well before [he] even thought about getting into politics.”

Manchester, N.H. – Republican U.S. Senate candidate “Colorado Corky” Messner said the reason he and his law firm represented the Chinese government to sue an American manufacturer was because he hadn’t yet made the political calculation to run for office, in a Facebook live interview with WMUR today.

When Messner was asked about his law firm, Messner Reeves, representing the Chinese government in a lawsuit against an American business, Messner explained it was “well before [he] even thought about getting into politics.” The Associated Press reported this week, Mesner’s law firm “represented an insurance company run by the Chinese government that sued a U.S. manufacturer.”

“Colorado Corky said the quiet part out loud: he cashed in with the communist Chinese government and tried to shake down an American manufacturer because he wasn’t yet planning to run for office,” said campaign spokesperson Josh Marcus-Blank. “Corky was willing to sell out an American business on behalf of the communist Chinese government because he didn’t think he’d get caught. He would sell out New Hampshire in a heartbeat.”

In 2017, the year after Messner Reeves represented an arm of the Chinese government designed to advance Chinese trade interests, New Hampshire had 24,000 fewer jobs because of the trade deficit with China. More than 20 Granite State businesses and more than 1,300 workers have applied for Trade Adjustment Assistance for their workers after losing out to imports from China or shifts of production to China.

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