The House select committee on China will feature four high-profile witnesses during its first hearing Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET, including former President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, and top China expert and former deputy national security adviser, Matthew Pottinger, sources familiar with the hearing told CNN.
This is the first primetime hearing that any GOP-led committee has held since Republicans took over the House majority in January. The panel’s top Republican, Chairman Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, is hoping to make a splash with his witness list, which is aimed at proving his panel’s commitment to leading a serious, bipartisan investigation that could result in substantial legislative action, the sources said.
Other witnesses include Tong Yi, former secretary to one of China’s leading dissidents and current human rights activist, Wei Jingsheng, and Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing.
The witnesses will help the committee lay out what they view are the specific threats China poses as a global competitor, as well as the panel’s top priorities on how to counter Beijing’s aggression.
McMaster and Pottinger are significant witnesses for the committee to showcase. They are widely respected on both sides of the aisle and played key roles in how the Trump administration formulated and carried out its agenda toward China.
Pottinger, in particular, worked for Trump from the start of his administration until resigning in the immediate aftermath of the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. He testified publicly last year before the House select committee on the January 6 attack, earning him a nod of approval from the left.
“Our national security was harmed in a different way by the sixth of January and that is, I think it emboldened our enemies by helping give them ammunition to feed a…
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