Update: After the publication of this article, Rep. Mike Gallagher’s office informed Headline USA that the congressman will not attend the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos. Headline USA has updated the story to include an additional statement from Gallagher’s office and to accurately reflect the number of Republicans attending the meeting, but has otherwise kept the original article intact.
(Ken Silva, Headline USA) At least three Republican lawmakers are among the gaggle of oligarchs, politicians and deep-state actors set to flock to Davos for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting next week.
The WEF has been heavily criticized for promoting anti-liberty and anti-human policies, including lockdowns, vaccine mandates and trans-humanism—as summarized by its slogan: “Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better.”
Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better @IdaAuken https://t.co/6BKymvbKB5 pic.twitter.com/YJjAkw8skS
— World Economic Forum (@wef) December 12, 2016
The Republican participants listed to attend the event include Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, as well as Reps. Darrell Issa of California, Maria Salazar of Florida and Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin—the latter having recently been appointed to chair the Select Committee on China.
Republican Sen. James Risch of Idaho is also listed as an attendee, but his communications director informed Headline USA that he is not, in fact, attending the forum.
Gallagher’s office told Headline USA that he is headed to the “belly of the beast” to warn other attendees about the “existential threat” posed by the Chinese Communist Party.
“Rep. Gallagher things it’s time for the world to wake up to the existential threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party and to selectively decouple our economies,” said Gallagher’s communications director, Jordan Dunn.
“He’s taking his warning to the belly of the beast and putting everyone there on notice: You’re either with us, or with a genocidal communist regime hellbent on destroying America,” Dunn added.
Dunn later sent another statement that the congressman is not, in fact, attending the meeting.
“He was invited but is not going. He’s staying back to continue setting up the Select Committee on the CCP and to lay groundwork for future hearings,” Dunn said.
Issa’s office also provided a written statement, in which the congressman promised to speak out against WEF policies.
“Throughout my career, I have worked to take the message of American Exceptionalism everywhere it needs to be heard. Sometimes, that means places that may not agree,” Issa said in a statement that’s also posted on his site.
“Over the years, the World Economic Forum has gotten much wrong—from crippling COVID lockdowns, to climate extremism, to exacerbating the global energy crisis, to the manifest dangers of the Chinese Communist Party,” he continued. “I’m not afraid to say this in front of the conference, and this year is no exception.”
Issa promised not to be a “silent observer” at the forum.
“I will continue to be a forceful voice for our conservative values of liberty and freedom and the best of what makes America great,” he said.
Issa’s communications director, Jonathan Wilcox, added the following statement in an email to Headline USA: “Anyone who thinks Darrell Issa would go anywhere in the world and not have America’s back doesn’t know him at all.”
Salazar’s and Kemp’s offices did not immediately respond to queries about why they’re participating.
Salazar’s office said they were “processing” the query. Headline USA will update with any response.
Kemp’s office gave no reply at all. However, in an article published by Gateway Pundit, journalist Leo Hohmann raised one possible reason for Kemp’s attendance, noting his history of encouraging Chinese companies to invest in his state.
“[Kemp] has courted the Chinese Communist Party to invest in Georgia, literally making promotional videos on how wonderful it is for Georgia to partner with the Chinese communists in various business ventures,” Hohmann noted.
Kemp is listed as a speaker on a panel with Democrat Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. They will discuss “what we can expect from a reshaped legislative landscape in the United States,” according to WEF’s website.
The other Republican lawmakers are not listed as speakers.
Along with the politicians, other American participants include FBI Director Christopher Wray; Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines; and former Obama United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power, who is currently the Biden White House’s administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Haines is a longtime WEF member who participated in Event 201—a WEF-sponsored event that simulated a global pandemic in October 2019, just weeks before the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed.
Powers, for her part, while serving on the Obama administration’s National Security Council, was instrumental in the 2011 overthrow of Libya’s government. Libya is now a failed state with a flourishing open-market slave trade, thanks to Obama’s coup.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
