James Comer Helped a Donor Get Chinese language Hemp. What They Received Examined as Marijuana

Rep. James Comer (R-KY) has for months used his energy as Home Oversight chair to assail Hunter Biden’s involvement in a failed enterprise take care of a Chinese language power firm.

However The Each day Beast has obtained emails and different paperwork exhibiting that when Comer was working for governor of Kentucky, he himself was concerned in a failed Chinese language enterprise deal. It concerned importing Chinese language hemp seeds by means of Comer’s workplace—he was Kentucky’s agriculture commissionerat the time—to profit a marketing campaign donor’s firm that Comer had fast-tracked for his industrial hemp pilot program.

The paperwork—which The Each day Beast obtained after the Kentucky authorities launched them to a 3rd celebration in response to open data requests—include a surprising revelation: Whereas the emails present the concerned events clearly meant to import solely authorized hemp, two rounds of assessments revealed the crops had been basically Chinese language pot, containing illegally excessive ranges of THC, the psychoactive compound that provides marijuana customers a excessive.

The data chalk up the error to the choice to order seeds that “wouldn’t have good breeder documentation,” warning that the events could “run into this subject once more.” Emails present an intent to destroy the crops after the second check. If the crops had been destroyed, nevertheless, it was not documented within the 1000’s of emails and attachments that the Kentucky Division of Agriculture (KDA) and Murray State College (MSU) produced in response to the open data requests. Data present Comer’s workplace needed the KDA to supervise the proposed eradication however the path at that time went chilly—there seems to be no file of destruction or affirmation that state or federal regulation enforcement ever discovered of the unlawful crops. Nobody has spoken of those occasions publicly.

After the matter was resolved, Comer’s workplace despatched a memo along with his seal to program members advising on the right way to deal with regulation enforcement inquiries.

“There may be nothing prison occurring with the tasks,” the memo stated. “This system is in compliance with each state and federal rules; there’s nothing to cover.”

One bullet level was written in daring. It learn: “Nonetheless, if a request to gather industrial hemp materials for a testing pattern is made[,] refer regulation enforcement to contact KDA and do NOT permit the pattern to be collected.” The memo recommended contacting the deputy commissioner, noting, “With no court docket order, or warrant, you might be beneath no obligation to permit the gathering of a testing pattern.”

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The affair overlapped with Comer’s gubernatorial major marketing campaign, for which the donor’s firm hosted a fundraiser. Whereas Comer made no secret of the economic hemp pilot program—it was his prime legislative precedence as agriculture commissioner—emails between him, officers in his workplace, executives with the donor’s firm, and officers at a college concerned in this system reveal an effort to maintain the Chinese language hemp debacle beneath wraps.

As an illustration, in a Might 20, 2014, electronic mail to 4 individuals—together with Comer and his chief of employees—an official with the donor’s firm wrote that the donor had “confirmed that he has some seed being despatched on to your workplace from China.” The official added that Comer’s workplace ought to ship the hemp seeds on to their educational liaison at MSU—copied on the e-mail—who “agreed to check them.”

The e-mail concluded, “I must preserve this between the 4 of us.”

Comer didn’t reply to the e-mail.

The cargo arrived on Might 23, in line with a follow-up electronic mail. It was a delicate time—on Might 14, the KDA sued the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration over the seizure of 250 kilos of hemp imported for its pilot program from an Italian provider, drawing nationwide consideration. The DEA launched the Italian hemp sooner or later after the corporate notified Comer of the inbound Chinese language cargo.

Comer has cited the hemp program as a crowning achievement, lauding the venture when he tried to recreate its success within the first invoice he sponsored in Congress, the failed “Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2017.” Nonetheless, the Chinese language hemp imports—probably mislabeled “as a decoy” for customs inspection and finally discovered to include portions of THC almost 10 occasions the authorized restrict—had been by no means made public.

‘They need to get in on this’

The corporate on the middle of the story is Caudill Seed, based mostly in Kentucky and the “poster youngster” for Comer’s program. Caudill Seed had a robust enterprise curiosity within the first-in-the-nation program, emails present, together with a plan to vogue hemp into automobile door panels.

It’s unclear whether or not Caudill Seed was an formally sanctioned hemp producer on the time of the shipments from China. Comer’s pilot program made Kentucky the primary state to relegalize hemp manufacturing and, whereas Caudill Seed finally secured official standing, emails across the time of the shipments point out they struggled to get import permits; the KDA program web site didn’t point out the corporate. Whereas native information studies in spring 2014 recognized Caudill Seed as a program associate, MSU supplies didn’t. Caudill’s official hemp manufacturing utility with the KDA is dated November 2014.

These articles, press releases, and college paperwork solely point out European and Canadian imports. Moreover, Chinese language crops had been lacking from later evaluations of this system. As an illustration, Tony Brannon, then dean of the MSU Faculty of Agriculture—the college’s level individual within the emails and a Comer donor—revealed a glowing retrospective of the pilot program on Murray State’s web site in 2019. The evaluate acknowledged Caudill Seed’s position and congratulated this system for overcoming setbacks corresponding to provider points, stigma, and the DEA seizure. However Brannon, who referred to as Comer a “good buddy” within the article, didn’t point out the Chinese language hemp.

In response to The Each day Beast’s questions, MSU supplied an announcement lauding Brannon and noting his retirement final January.

“Former Dean of Agriculture Dr. Tony Brannon is a well-respected member of the campus neighborhood who led modern analysis efforts concerning the cultivation and manufacturing of hemp, rigorously guaranteeing that these efforts had been in line with authorized necessities,” the assertion stated.

It added: “Murray State College has no information of any considerations or points concerning this matter.”

The Each day Beast obtained the college’s personal information confirming the illegally excessive THC content material, as a part of the open data manufacturing. The varsity didn’t reply to follow-up inquiries.

In a textual content message responding to detailed questions, Brannon stated, “I’m conscious that Murray State College has issued an announcement to you. I stand by that assertion and don’t have anything additional so as to add.” The Each day Beast requested how his central position within the occasions squared with MSU’s declare of “no information.” Brannon didn’t reply.

Comer and the KDA didn’t reply to contact makes an attempt. Caudill Seed didn’t reply to a number of inquiries. Carl Gering, a former worker featured prominently within the emails, instructed The Each day Beast he retired in March 2020.

“No remark to 10-year-old emails,” Gering stated.

Headquartered in Louisville, Caudill Seed is a family-run operation, based in 1947. Co-owner and longtime chief working officer, Sanford “Dan” Caudill, fashioned a detailed relationship with Comer throughout his 2011 marketing campaign for agriculture commissioner.

That 12 months, state marketing campaign finance data present, Dan Caudill and his brother, CEO Pat Caudill, made most donations to Comer. Shortly after the hemp assessments in 2014, the corporate hosted a fundraiser for Comer’s gubernatorial bid, netting extra max-outs from Dan, Pat, and different Caudills. In 2015, Dan Caudill gifted one other $1,000 to Comer’s U.S. Home bid. Federal data present Dan Caudill has contributed a complete $3,500 to Comer’s congressional campaigns.

In 2014, Caudill Seed had enterprise ties to China, together with at the least one facility and at the least two patent functions that had been finally authorized. Comer knew the corporate had been trying to China, telling the Frankfort State Journal in 2012: “They’ve been to China and different international locations and researched what the seed market appears to be like like over there. They need to get in on this.”

Whereas Comer at first acknowledged that some pilot program imports could come from China, he seems to have stopped after 2013. That June, Comer criticized Virginia-based pork producer Smithfield for its merger with a Chinese language firm, telling the State Journal, “It’s at all times a priority when a communist nation buys an important agribusiness in the USA.”

Comer hews to such strains of assault in the present day, with particular criticism for the Biden household.

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Final July, in an interview on Fox Enterprise, Comer blamed Joe Biden for China “getting access to our markets” when he was vp—a interval that overlapped with Comer’s involvement in efforts to import Chinese language hemp. Final August, Comer instructed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, “Essentially the most unlawful factor on this planet for anybody in Washington is to take cash from overseas nationals from China.”

Whereas Comer knew about Caudill’s Chinese language ties, it’s much less clear whether or not he knew about Dan Caudill’s prison file. Information studies doc drug arrests way back to 1974, together with the largest seizure of medication in Oldham County—600 kilos of marijuana grown on his farm. A consultant for the Kentucky state archive, which now controls these data, instructed The Each day Beast Caudill was in the end “convicted of trafficking in marijuana and cannabis and obtained 10 years complete.”

(Dan Caudill is to today a outstanding advocate for rehabilitative employment applications for felons, efforts cited in a 2015 Brennan Middle for Justice white paper authored by bipartisan officers together with Huckabee, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Hillary Clinton, and then-Vice President Biden.)

Comer promoted Caudill Seed. In 2012, months into his first time period as agriculture commissioner and as he rolled out his hemp initiative, he gave the corporate a “Kentucky Proud Accomplice in Excellence” award. In a radio interview, Comer touted Caudill Seed as “a signature agribusiness,” saying, “We simply need to inform them how a lot we admire them, see how we are able to proceed their development, and thank them for his or her accomplishments.”

In 2013, Louisville Enterprise First reported that the Caudill brothers “grew to become thinking about [hemp] after they met James Comer, now Kentucky’s secretary of agriculture, throughout his 2011 marketing campaign for the workplace.”

A farmer himself, Comer had lengthy advocated for industrial hemp. He considered the crop as an untapped income stream for an agricultural sector which stagnated after tobacco buyouts within the early 2000s. As soon as a prime hemp producer, Kentucky, like different states, banned the plant in response to authorized restrictions within the late Nineteen Fifties. In 1971, the federal authorities labeled hemp as a managed substance as a result of its similarities with marijuana. For many years, manufacturing was strictly regulated.

Whereas hemp and marijuana come from the identical plant, hashish sativa, industrial hemp strains include solely hint ranges of THC. Even in conservative Kentucky, Comer—who has referred to as marijuana hemp’s “evil cousin”—was removed from alone in arguing that the plant was unreasonably outlawed. (In December 2023, Comer stated he supported Washington, D.C., legalizing marijuana, although it was nonetheless outlawed in Kentucky. Final 12 months, Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear legalized medical hashish by means of an government order, efficient Jan. 1, 2025.)

As agriculture commissioner, Comer constructed a bipartisan coalition that in 2013 made Kentucky the primary state to re-legalize industrial hemp. Comer’s pilot program drew huge assist, even ardent backing from the state’s strongest pol, Sen. Mitch McConnell.

‘Your Eyes Solely’

Comer labored to get Caudill Seed concerned. In a December 2014 electronic mail, Brannon, the MSU dean, wrote, “I obtained concerned within the hemp venture for one cause. It was due to a telephone name that I acquired from Commissioner Jamie Comer in March requesting that Murray State be concerned with Caudill Seeds as our associate within the pilot analysis.”

The next September, Brannon tagged Comer in a Fb submit, writing, “I’ll always remember the telephone name I acquired from him sitting within the parking zone on the MSU motor pool asking us to work with Caudill Seed to develop Agricultural Hemp in 2014.” In his 2019 evaluate, Brannon wrote, “That [call] started a detailed affiliation with buddy Carl Gering at Caudill.”

As operations supervisor at Caudill, Gering dealt with most communications with KDA and MSU concerning the Chinese language hemp. Emails present him pushing Brannon to assist acquire hemp for his firm, providing to choose up product and canopy prices for harvesting, transportation, and testing. Brannon resisted these affords however in a January 2015 electronic mail flagged an $1,800 invoice for THC retesting. A college bill that summer time exhibits MSU billed Caudill Seed $2,000 for “analysis selection training.”

It was Gering who wrote the Might 20, 2014, electronic mail asking to “preserve this between the 4 of us.” He and Dan Caudill often corresponded with Comer and his workplace about this system, together with planning and delivering the Chinese language shipments.

As an illustration, an April 30, 2014, electronic mail from Caudill Seed’s Lori Thomas to Comer’s chief of employees—topic line “RE: U.S. Customs and Border Patrol is working with us…”—stated, “we do need to deliver within the hemp seeds we’ve got secured from China and have them despatched on to your workplace.”

Gering forwarded that electronic mail to a McConnell assistant, Tate Bennett, writing, “China doesn’t require an export allow so this would possibly work, and we would have the ability to get seed from China.”

Comer’s workplace fielded a second Chinese language cargo—this one mislabeled—that arrived two weeks after the DEA launched the seized Italian hemp. On June 2, Comer’s chief of employees wrote Gering and Brannon, “I’ve a bundle sitting in my workplace that’s written in Chinese language. At the very least, I believe.” The bundle, she stated, was labeled “rape seed.”

“Is that this what we expect?” she requested.

It turned out it was. Whereas it’s unclear why the bundle was mislabeled, Thomas speculated in an electronic mail to Gering it had been executed “as a decoy.”

“Precisely what I’m considering,” Gering replied, including MSU’s Brannon to the chain. “I might have.”

Requested about this electronic mail, Gering declined to remark.

Emails present Comer’s workplace organized to ship the seeds to Murray State and preserve a 100-gram pattern for his or her data. The varsity planted its Chinese language seeds on June 12, in line with MSU data. By September, one thing smelled humorous.

On Sept. 30, 2014, Gering emailed Brannon a few nervous driver who had picked up a few of their crops from the college—on Comer’s private authorization—solely to find that the payload reeked of pot.

“FYI—your eyes solely,” the e-mail started. “The driving force who picked up the hemp seed was scared all the best way again from Murray. He acknowledged the odor was very robust and he noticed a number of truckers go his truck and snicker. I used to be instructed the scent is an identical to what maryj [marijuana] smells like…I personally must take their phrase for it.”

Gering instructed Brannon the corporate had “a letter from Jamie” authorizing transportation “beneath the analysis allow.” (Caudill Seed seems to have utilized for a allow in November.) Nonetheless, Gering added, they “weren’t conscious the driving force had had a earlier drug conviction.” The driving force, he wrote, “was petrified of the potential of being pulled over and having to elucidate his method out of the delema [sic].”

That electronic mail got here in response to a be aware from Brannon, who stated Comer had joked with him about THC testing at a college ceremony that day.

“He says that state nonetheless has not okay’d testing,” Brannon wrote. “Right here was his quote ‘it’s going to come back again at .4%’. I stated I guess ours is available in at .29%. Ha.” The federally mandated restrict for THC in hemp crops was 0.3 %.

That night, Brannon’s emails state, he attended a Comer fundraiser. Kentucky marketing campaign finance data present he donated $250. In a single electronic mail, he stated he “Gave Jamie some Hemp taking part in playing cards for rummy video games at 1:30 within the morning when he arrives in a motel. Valuable.”

Brannon’s 0.29 % estimate was method off. When the outcomes got here again per week later, the Caudill workforce was dismayed to be taught all their Chinese language seeds examined above 0.3 % THC and as excessive as 2.74 %—almost 10 occasions the authorized most beneath the federal Farm Invoice.

Gering emailed Dan Caudill, writing, “My query can be if a hemp plant has a excessive THC content material, is it thought of a marijuana plant? Do we have to get this seed out of the constructing (and dispose), and never obtain any of the second harvest?”

The reply to Gering’s first query is sure. The U.S. Division of Agriculture classifies any hashish plant with THC content material higher than 0.3 % as marijuana; something lower than that’s hemp. Within the eyes of the U.S. authorities, the crops had been Chinese language marijuana. Of the opposite hemp varieties MSU planted, none examined larger than 0.13 % THC, college information exhibits.

Gering alluded to the authorized distinction in a follow-up to his boss. “The Farm invoice states it’s authorized to develop hemp with a THC content material decrease than [0].3% THC,” he wrote. “We now have hemp seed with a THC content material of 1.87 and a couple of.74%.” The Each day Beast obtained MSU check outcomes that verify these numbers.

Gering advisable destroying the hemp and canceling the second harvest, writing: “I really feel that Murray will need to eradicate the Chinese language seed plots as quickly as doable, due to the potential legal responsibility.”

Dan Caudill, nevertheless, had a distinct plan.

“I do disagree together with your e-mail,” he replied. Caudill stated he was suspicious of the outcomes, for the reason that check was carried out by personal firm Cannavest—a “potential competitor”—despite the fact that, as Gering famous, the assessments had been blind.

“Due to this fact, let’s go to Jamie Comer’s workplace and ask them the place we are able to get this materials examined, even when it’s the state police laboratory and we’ll pay for the price,” Caudill wrote.

There adopted a months-long back-and-forth between Caudill Seed, MSU, and Comer’s workplace over the right way to re-test the Chinese language hemp, and whether or not the state had the capability and authority to take action.

Caudill continued to attempt to purchase hemp to prototype its automobile door panels. In mid-November, the corporate held a fundraiser for Comer, who was working for governor. Comer collected most $1,000 items every from Dan Caudill and his spouse, co-owner Pat Caudill and his spouse, and Dan Caudill’s son, Corey Caudill, head of stock administration at Caudill Seed. An individual figuring out himself as Caudill Seed worker Richard McChesney gave $100.

However by January, hope had run out. The workforce secured a third-party check from College of Mississippi hashish professional Dr. Mahmoud ElSohly, who confirmed impermissibly excessive ranges of THC within the Chinese language varieties supplied by MSU and the KDA.

When Brannon broke the unhealthy information to Gering, he requested the right way to proceed. Although Gering and Dan Caudill each famous “variance” within the testing—ElSohly’s readings had been usually decrease, the 2 highest strains testing at 2.33 and a couple of.36 %—they determined to destroy the crops. In addition they made clear that the less individuals who knew, the higher.

A draft letter from Dan Caudill, forwarded by Gering to Brannon on Jan. 15, learn, “I’ve suggested Carl [Gering] to go forward and destroy any of the Chinese language hemp plant materials that we’ve got out there right here. Though we’re protecting samples of the seed since we all know they’re a low THC.”

The be aware concluded, “We’ll simply not embody it together with your information.”

Gering blocked Caudill’s letter. This, he instructed Brannon, was “extremely confidential.”

“[R]ead the under electronic mail and you will note why I would like your assist,” Gering wrote. “Generally it’s a must to work exterior the field to do what’s finest for all concerned. The testing information is just too important to not be completely correct and clear. Give me a name when doable.”

Comer was not copied on this electronic mail.

The following day, Brannon despatched Gering the ultimate testing spreadsheet, saying, “Please don’t distribute. That is between you and me proper now.”

Gering replied that he “would advise us to restrict entry to this information,” however advisable consulting an official in Comer’s workplace.

“Somebody not privileged to the general scope might simply run with this information and state we’re rising a hemp selection which is extra marijuana than hemp,” Gering wrote. “This isn’t our intent, however as we analysis legacy varieties and varieties that wouldn’t have good breeder documentation, we are going to run into this subject once more. It’s good we’re getting this out within the open and documenting how the KDA will deal with this sooner or later.”

Brannon replied, “Agreed.” He added that the check variance info is perhaps helpful.

That day, Brannon submitted MSU’s manufacturing report back to the state agriculture division. He famous “China selection fiber and seed delivered to Caudill Seed,” and listed six elective ideas for enhancements—together with “plant earlier (mid April),” “mechanical harvest,” and “produce handbook for Kentucky hemp manufacturing.” The report contains an connected desk of the THC readings, however Brannon didn’t in any other case touch upon them.

It’s not clear from the emails what occurred to the high-THC Chinese language hemp. An official with Comer’s workplace suggested Caudill Seed to carry off on disposal till somebody from KDA might oversee the method, but when that course of was adopted it isn’t confirmed within the data.

When Brannon despatched the ultimate outcomes, he wrote: “I’m simply proud to be related to Caudill Seeds and the addition of your friendships and our skilled relationships was a spotlight of my 2014 12 months.”

Brannon signed the e-mail, “Dean of Hemp.”

That June, Comer misplaced his gubernatorial major. After that, he ran for Congress and gained. In December 2015, Brannon gave $250 to that effort, and in November, Dan Caudill, now CEO of Caudill Seed, contributed $1,000.

Dan Caudill gave Comer’s marketing campaign $1,000 in each 2020 and 2021, and one other $500 this April, federal data present. No different Caudill Seed worker has donated to Comer since 2014.

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