On Thursday, the Senate Commerce Committee invited Microsoft President Brad Smith to discuss ways the United States could “beat China in the [artificial intelligence] race.” Microsoft, however, has a history of partnering with Pentagon-designated “Chinese military companies,” training talent that eventually filters into pro-Chinese Communist Party enterprises, engaging in censorship on behalf of Beijing, and working with a Chinese military-run university on AI research.

A Senate aide told the Washington Examiner that Democrats on the committee were responsible for calling Smith as a witness.