A U.S. State Department foreign service officer has been fired after being caught on hidden camera admitting to a secret romantic relationship with the daughter of a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) affiliate—a connection he failed to disclose to U.S. security officials, according to statements released Wednesday.
The officer, identified as Daniel Choi, was terminated following an internal review ordered by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and approved by President Donald Trump, the department confirmed.
The decision came after footage surfaced from an O’Keefe Media Group (OMG) undercover investigation in which Choi acknowledged that his girlfriend’s father was “straight-up Communist Party” and that she “could have been a spy.”
“I defied my government for love,” Choi said in the secretly recorded video published by OMG, in which he discussed knowingly concealing the relationship from State Department officials despite being required to report any close personal contact with foreign nationals.
A State Department spokesperson told reporters that, to their knowledge, this is the first time an officer has been terminated under the authority granted by Executive Order 14211, which President Trump signed earlier this year to strengthen accountability within the diplomatic corps.
The order states that “all officers or employees charged with implementing the foreign policy of the United States must, under Article II, do so under the direction and authority of the President,” adding that “failure to faithfully implement the President’s policy is grounds for professional discipline, including separation.”
In a statement announcing the dismissal, the department said:
“The Foreign Service Officer admitted to concealing a romantic relationship with a Chinese national, whom he said on camera ‘could have been a spy.’ He also said that her father was ‘straight-up Communist Party.’ The officer was required to report this contact to Department security officials, but said, ‘I defied my government for love.’ Accordingly, the Secretary recommended that the officer be separated for failing to faithfully implement the President’s foreign policy.”
Choi’s case underscores growing concerns within the U.S. government over Chinese intelligence-gathering through personal and professional relationships with American officials. For years, counterintelligence experts have warned that Beijing uses romantic entanglements, financial incentives, and academic ties to collect sensitive information from U.S. personnel.
“Romantic and social connections remain one of the most exploited vectors in Chinese espionage,” said a former senior intelligence official familiar with State Department security procedures. “An unreported relationship like this represents a massive vulnerability, no matter how innocent it may appear.”
While the State Department declined to detail the internal investigation, officials confirmed that Choi’s failure to report the relationship violated long-standing security protocols designed to protect against coercion or compromise by foreign entities.
Foreign service officers are required to immediately disclose any “close and continuing contact” with foreign nationals who may have ties to hostile governments.
Choi reportedly told the undercover journalist that his girlfriend’s father was either a provincial or federal education minister within the CCP structure, adding, “She could have been a spy — I don’t even know.”
After the video’s release, Secretary Rubio moved quickly to recommend termination, citing national security concerns and the need to enforce accountability across diplomatic ranks.
“This is a clear case of misconduct and potential compromise,” a State Department official said on background. “Every officer takes an oath to serve the United States and to uphold our security standards. No one is above that.”
Rubio has taken a hard line on countering Chinese influence within U.S. institutions since becoming Secretary of State, tightening vetting procedures for foreign contacts and expanding background checks for personnel stationed in East Asia and Washington-based policy roles.
Rumors have begun to swirl that Rubio could be on the 2028 presidential ticket with Vice President JD Vance.
It’s true that there are positive uses for the internet.
Consider the case of Kelli Tarin. She went to Facebook for assistance after discovering what might be a pest problem. Thousands of comments were left for the mother of three, expressing everything from a desire to offer assistance to a simple want to be informed about her circumstances.
She eventually figured out the solution, but not before laughing heartily.
Tarin sent a request for assistance from other members of the Homemaking Tips Facebook group in August 2023.
She had just moved into a rental home in west Texas with her family when they came onto something that made her call the landlord and every pest control business she could think of all the time.
“Anyone know what this could be? I have found two piles of these. Only in my daughters room. I clean it almost every day. This Is something that happened QUICK,”
she wrote alongside a photo of a pile of what she described as looking like “coffee grounds.”
Many people were drawn to her article and tried to help her with her issue.
“Put a camera up and see how it’s getting there,” one person suggested.
“I can’t really tell but I’m being so honest if there little ‘flying ants’ their a type of termites. I had them in my first house as an ‘adult’ and they would pop up and I’d vacuum them, and then they’d pop right back up,” someone else offered.
Another individual, meanwhile, merely remarked that it was “rat poop.”
Tarin revised her initial post in response to the numerous suggestions that people kept making.
She said that she would not be allowing her kid to sleep in her bedroom for the time being.
“We called TWO pest control companies yesterday. Literally BOTH of them said they have never seen anything like this. Ever,” she wrote. “If it were terminates, they said the droppings or whatever they leave behind is completely different. What’s left behind is literally crunchy. Almost seed like. It’s very strange.”
Tarin rationally explained why it wasn’t any of the potential pests as she went through the list, which included mice, roaches, and bats. Despite finding mice to be “believable” as the culprits, she was aware that the brown particles in the piles were not mouse droppings.
She got pest treatment and her landlord came out to her property, but she didn’t start to think more critically about things until she saw a comment under one of her Facebook posts.
“I red [sic] a comment from someone that said they kids lavender bear busted opened and this was inside. Sure enough, when I picked up toys from here, there was a lavender blush [sic] bear in the pile.”
After picking up the bear, Tarin threw it away right away because he thought it was “infested.”
She glanced at the bear again, though, as her curiosity got the better of her. There was a hole in the stuffed animal.
“I poured out the contents and these beads were inside!!!I have laughed for 30 mins. Imagine my relief.“