Add The New York Post on Google An American journalist was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison for acting as an agent of the Chinese government inside the US, the Department of Justice said this week.
Thomas Weir Pauken II, 51, a Texas native, pleaded guilty to working for Beijing and attempting to supply items to a potential spy seeking a job in the Trump administration.
Pauken, who received at least $100,000 for his work, was scheduled to meet with the individual and provide them with a laptop and phone, as well as $10,000 to write reports to be read by Chinese President Xi Jinping, prosecutors said.
“Thomas Pauken admitted to working at the direction of China’s Ministry of State Security to attempt to infiltrate US political circles while also providing new recruitment targets for his Chinese handlers,” said Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division.
“This case illustrates the lengths to which the Chinese Communist Party will go to undermine our democratic institutions, and it also demonstrates the FBI’s resolve to defend the homeland from threats to our national security,” he added.
Pauken worked as a journalist for several Chinese news organizations after moving there in 2010, including state broadcaster CCTV. His most recent job was listed as an editor for Xinhua, China’s state news agency, a position he’s held since 2024.
Pauken published his work under the alias Tom McGregor at the request of his father, Thomas W. Paulken Sr., a former chairman of the Texas Republican Party.
In 2017, Pauken met a person identified as “Cathy,” who paid for him to take various trips to the US and provide her with reports, which he claimed were also sent to Xi, according to the FBI affidavit.
During one of the trips in January 2025, Pauken was instructed to provide Cathy’s contact with the equipment and money, but he was stopped by Customs and Border Protection agents.
Pauken told the agents that he was “80% sure” the contact would provide classified information to Beijing if hired by the Trump administration, with the agents letting him go to carry on with the plan.
The exchange took place more than a year later in February 2026 at a Washington, DC, restaurant, with Pauken shortly afterwards.
In his last public Facebook post under the McGregor alias, Pauken shared photos of his wife and child enjoying a trip with him to Washington.
Along with two years in prison, Pauken was sentenced to 36 months of supervised release with no overseas travel, the DOJ said.
