Rubio Removes Diplomat Who Hid Relationship With Daughter of Chinese Communist Official
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has terminated a U.S. Foreign Service officer who admitted concealing a romantic relationship with a Chinese national whose father was reportedly connected to the Chinese Communist Party.
The officer, identified as Daniel Choi in undercover footage released by O’Keefe Media Group, acknowledged that State Department security rules required him to disclose the relationship. Nevertheless, he deliberately withheld the information from the U.S. government.
“I defied my government for love,” Choi said in the recording.
The footage, originally published in August 2025, raised serious counterintelligence concerns because of the woman’s family connections and Choi’s apparent willingness to disregard established security procedures.
Choi described the woman’s father as either a provincial or federal education official in China—and as “straight-up Communist Party.”
When questioned about the possibility that his girlfriend was involved in intelligence operations, Choi conceded that she “could have been a spy,” although he said he did not know whether she actually worked for Chinese intelligence.
The recording produced no evidence establishing that the woman was an intelligence operative. Choi’s suggestion that she might have been a spy remained speculation. The central issue, however, was his admission that he knowingly concealed a relationship that security regulations obligated him to report.
Following a review of the case, Rubio recommended Choi’s dismissal. The White House examined the circumstances and authorized the termination, according to State Department statements cited by multiple news outlets.
“The Foreign Service Officer admitted to concealing a romantic relationship with a Chinese national,” the department said.
Officials further noted that Choi had acknowledged the woman “could have been a spy” and that her father had ties to the Communist Party.
Foreign Service officers entrusted with classified or otherwise sensitive information must report certain close and continuing relationships with foreign nationals. These disclosure requirements allow security officials to evaluate whether an employee could become vulnerable to coercion, blackmail, manipulation or recruitment by a hostile intelligence service.
The rules do not automatically prohibit diplomats from maintaining relationships with foreign nationals. They require transparency so that potential national-security risks can be properly examined.
By his own account, Choi understood that obligation.
“I was supposed to, whatever, sort of report what I knew about her,” he said in the undercover footage, while indicating that he believed the requirement was unfair.
His disagreement with the rule did not excuse his failure to follow it—particularly when the relationship involved the daughter of an official connected to America’s foremost geopolitical adversary.
The State Department said Choi was removed under authority strengthened by President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order 14211, which the president signed in February 2025.
The order, titled “One Voice for America’s Foreign Relations,” affirms that personnel responsible for carrying out American foreign policy exercise authority on behalf of the president. Employees who refuse to faithfully implement the administration’s foreign-policy objectives may consequently face disciplinary action, including termination.
According to the department, Choi became the first Foreign Service officer dismissed under the authority provided by Trump’s order.
State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the administration would enforce a “zero-tolerance policy” against personnel whose actions place American national security at risk.
The dismissal signals a sharp departure from a Washington personnel culture in which career officials have too often behaved as though bureaucratic status shields them from meaningful accountability. Under Trump and Rubio, employment in the diplomatic corps does not place anyone above the security standards designed to protect the country.
Rubio, who represented Florida in the U.S. Senate before becoming secretary of state at the beginning of Trump’s second administration, has made confronting Chinese espionage and influence a central part of the department’s national-security agenda.
That focus reflects the expanding threat posed by Beijing’s intelligence operations, political influence campaigns and systematic efforts to acquire sensitive American information and technology. Relationships involving individuals connected to the CCP therefore demand scrutiny—not because guilt should be presumed, but because ignoring potential vulnerabilities would be dangerously irresponsible.
Trump’s executive order also grants Rubio broader authority to reform Foreign Service recruitment, evaluation, performance and retention procedures. The objective is to ensure that diplomatic personnel faithfully execute the foreign policy chosen by the elected president rather than substituting their own judgment for the administration’s agenda.
The Choi case became an early and consequential test of that authority.
After Rubio initiated the removal process and the White House completed its review, the State Department terminated Choi’s employment. Officials portrayed the decision as both a necessary personnel action and a defense of national security.
Foreign Service officers are given access to sensitive information and entrusted with representing the United States abroad. That responsibility requires honesty, sound judgment and strict compliance with counterintelligence safeguards.
Choi’s removal sends an unmistakable message: knowingly concealing a potential foreign-influence vulnerability—especially one involving connections to the Chinese Communist Party—will carry serious consequences.