By Hill Harper is a celebrated actor known for his versatility and impactful performances in both film and television. He is perhaps best known for his role as Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on the hit CBS series “CSI: NY,” where he played a medical examiner turned crime scene investigator. Another notable role includes his portrayal of Darnell in the acclaimed television series “The Good Doctor.”
A Democrat from Detroit, he’s now looking at the biggest role of his life: long shot candidate for Senate running against Elissa Slotkin, a congresswoman backed by every big name in the Great Lakes State.
Hill isn’t taking things lying down. He recently launched a blistering attack on Slotkin for her alleged ties to a Chinese battery company that has received hundreds of millions of dollars in Democratic handouts.
Hill Harper, a black actor and long-shot primary opponent of the establishment-backed Slotkin, brought up accusations she signed a nondisclosure agreement to discuss a proposed Michigan plant by Chinese-affiliated electric vehicle battery maker Gotion, according to video obtained by the Washington Examiner.
“There’s no question that the Chinese government is no friend of ours, and I want to do whatever it takes to stop them,” Harper told voters Monday at an event just outside of Detroit. “I’m not so sure my opponent feels the same way.”
The Slotkin campaign told the Washington Examiner that the allegation “has been debunked several times” and pointed to a Detroit News investigation that found a Slotkin staffer signed an NDA with Gotion but an NDA signed by Slotkin related only to discussions with semiconductor manufacturer Micron and General Motors for an EV battery plant.
“She signed an NDA with a Chinese government-backed company called Gotion that you’ve seen in the news recently,” Harper said of Slotkin. “The company was actually suing a Michigan municipality recently. And I’m not sure why our congresspeople are signing NDAs with Chinese-backed companies. You’ll have to ask her, but since it’s an NDA, she probably can’t tell you. But I promise you this: I will never, as your senator, sign a nondisclosure agreement with a Chinese-backed company. It would never happen. China and Russia are our country’s biggest threats.”
This isn’t the first time that Slotkin has been connected to shady foreign dealings. Earlier in the year, the White House accidentally released a photo showing her on the same trip to Ukraine as Joe Biden when he allegedly shook down the Ukrainian government to protect his son.
The company, Gotion, has been fighting the people of Michigan, who by and large oppose the idea of sending taxpayer money to China.
The Detroit Free Press reported that the “Chinese company that has promised to invest billions of dollars to build an electric vehicle battery plant in west Michigan has sued the township where the factory is slated to be built. The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court, comes after members of the township’s board, carried to electoral victories last fall by animosity toward the project, voted to reverse an agreement vital to the plant’s construction shortly after taking office.
In October 2022, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other state officials announced Gotion Inc. would build a $2.4 billion plant to make electric vehicle components, with the eventual planned location being in Green Charter Township, a town of around 3,200 in Mecosta County, about an hour north of Grand Rapids. In addition to the factory, which promised to create 2,350 jobs, Gotion planned to open an office for corporate employees in nearby Big Rapids, according to Crain’s Detroit Business.
But the project soon faced pushback — and last November, five members of Green Township’s board were recalled by voters for their support of local tax abatements for the plant’s construction. Two other members who supported the Gotion project resigned from their positions earlier in 2023.
Some scrutiny for the project has also centered on claims of the Chinese government having influence over Gotion, although the company has denied these claims. There has also been scrutiny for the way the project was planned, with critics saying the local communities weren’t engaged before the plant was announced.”
Battery plants have been one of the Democrats’ favorite ways to dish handouts to China.
Early in 2023, the Biden administration was accused of handing billions to another Chinese battery company. Fox News reported, “the Department of Energy (DOE) awarded the grant to Microvast, a Texas-based maker of technology for electric vehicle batteries, under the $1 trillion infrastructure package President Biden signed into law in November 2021. Microvast was one of just 20 American companies to receive a portion of the nearly $3 billion appropriated for a program designed to boost domestic battery manufacturing capabilities.
However, 69 percent of Microvast’s revenue was generated in China and just 3 percent came from the U.S., according to a third quarter financial disclosure it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last month. In the same filing, the company acknowledged that the Chinese government “exerts substantial influence” over its business activities and “may intervene at any time and with no notice.’”
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