As high-stakes trade talks were going down between the U.S. and China, hackers linked to the Chinese Communist Party impersonated a lawmaker responsible for overseeing a House panel focused on competition with Beijing.
The cyber attackers sent emails to agencies and stakeholders impersonating Representative John Moolenaar (R., Mich.), chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP, the panel disclosed in a release earlier this week.
If the phishing emails were opened, Chinese hackers would have gained access to valuable documents and information during the trade negotiations. The select committee’s technical analysis confirmed that the hackers attempted to hide their activity in order to steal sensitive data.
“This is another example of China’s offensive cyber operations designed to steal American strategy and leverage it against Congress, the Administration, and the American people,” Moolenaar said. “We will not be intimidated, and we will continue our work to keep America safe.”
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the cyber espionage campaign.
The FBI and U.S. Capitol police are investigating the hacking campaign. Cyber analysts traced the malware to APT41, a cyber warfare group believed to be tied to the CCP’s ministry of state security, according to the Journal. The hackers appeared to be trying to find out what outside groups were recommending to the Trump administration. It is unclear if they had any success phishing their targets.
The impersonation campaign against Moolenaar is not the first cyber espionage incident to target the China committee. In January, four committee staffers were the targets of a spear phishing campaign in an attempt to trick the staffers into going on a webpage designed to steal Microsoft credentials. The operation took place during a committee investigation into ZPMC, a Chinese state-backed manufacturer.
“China’s espionage efforts are getting more and more brazen. From their obscure ‘digital escort’ program through Microsoft at the Pentagon, to now impersonating US officials in a phishing campaign, it is clear the CCP will employ every tactic at their disposal to compromise our national security,” said Michael Lucci, CEO of State Armor, a right-leaning watchdog group specializing in China policy.
“The CCP must be held to account for its blatant efforts to steal American secrets, and states and the federal government should redouble their efforts to fortify American information systems against the CCP’s predation.”
Cyber warfare is a common tactic in Chinese espionage operations. Last year, hackers targeted the phone communications of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance prior to their victory in the November 2024 election.
The CCP-affiliated cyber attackers also went after staffers on the Harris-Walz campaign. In August, the FBI revealed that the high-profile espionage campaign was a years-long effort that attacked over 80 countries and hundreds of companies, making it one of the most broad hacking operations in recent memory.
From January 2021 to February 2025, the U.S. has been the target of at least 60 CCP-related espionage campaigns across 20 states, according to the House Homeland Security Committee’s data. There have been hundreds of Chinese espionage cases over the past two decades, with more than 100 of them coming in the form of hacking.