Trade data reveals Colorado GOP Chair Dave Williams' business dealings with the Chinese
In his endorsement of Colorado GOP Chair Dave Williams for Congressional District 5, former President Donald Trump accuses Williams' opponent Jeff Crank of working closely with the Chinese. What Trump apparently doesn't know is Williams' history of working with the Chinese.
Not even Crank knew until CBS News Colorado showed him trade records from ImportGenius.com, which tracks the contents of shipping containers entering the U.S. using data from U.S. Customs. Those records show Williams' family business -- MKW Global Sourcing -- had just over 1,100 imports between 2008 and 2020, all but 11 of them were from China.
"I never knew what Dave did because Dave hides these things from people," Crank says. "It's kind of like, what else does he hide?"
While one of Williams' old campaign websites and a filing with the Secretary of State's Office show he served as the registered agent and Vice President of Logistics for MKW, his current campaign website and current social media accounts make no mention of the family business that, according to ImportGenius.com, contracted with a Chinese company to ship 12 million pounds of Chinese plastic products into the U.S.
And yet Williams claims he's a leader of Trump's America First movement.
"Dave is a hypocrite," says Crank. "He's made his whole career off of selling cheap Chinese products then he runs off and tells everyone he's Mister America First."
Not only does Williams say he's America First, he says Crank -- who worked for the conservative SuperPAC Americans for Prosperity -- is a globalist.
"It's pandering. Dave is a panderer," Crank says. "It's really staggering to me that he would attack me, blame me when I haven't made any money off the Chinese communist party."
MKW Global Sourcing[4] by CBS News Colorado on Scribd
Williams' in-laws dissolved MKW Global Sourcing in 2022.
Williams says they wanted to retire, but the tariffs Trump imposed on China starting in 2018 appear to have impacted the company's import business. Before the tariffs, MKW made nearly 300 Chinese import transactions a month. In 2020, it made just nine. And by 2022, it went out of business.
I reached out to Williams for an interview. He refused. Instead, he had a spokesperson issue a statement attacking Crank for planting the story, which is false.
A spokesperson for Dave Williams issued this statement: "Jeff Crank is pathetic. This is clearly a desperate attempt to hide his support for globalist candidate Nikki Haley and his record of being an open border lobbyist for Americans for Chinese Prosperity, all in order to generate fake news against President Trump's endorsed candidate, Dave Williams."
