GIVEN THE BLATANT FBI MISCONDUCT NEEDED TO BRING CHARGES, THIS WAS THE RIGHT OUTCOME: Chinese researcher accused of spying under DOJ initiative acquitted of all charges.
“[E]ven viewing all the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, no rational jury could conclude that defendant acted with a scheme to defraud NASA” in failing to disclose his affiliation with the Beijing University of Technology to UTK, U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan wrote in the decision.
The judge added “there was no evidence presented that defendant ever collaborated with a Chinese university in conducting his NASA-funded research, or used facilities, equipment, or funds from a Chinese university in the course of such research.”
Will there be consequences for this misbehavior? Will anyone be charged, or even fired?
And will the University of Tennessee give him his job back? I think it should.
UPDATE: Here’s the opinion. Note that the defense motion for acquittal was opposed by the Justice Department. Some local media — cough, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, cough — is trying to spin this as some sort of racist Trump prosecution, but the Biden Administration didn’t drop it. In fact, they planned a retrial. They just lost. And the notion that the FBI was a willing tool of Trump seems . . . dubious anyway.