US journalist sentenced to two years in federal prison for acting as an agent of a foreign government inside the United States, according to the Justice Department. The case adds to a series of recent federal prosecutions tied to undisclosed work for China as tensions between Washington and Beijing persist.
US journalist sentenced amid foreign agent case
Thomas Weir Pauken II, 51, pleaded guilty earlier this year and does not plan to appeal, his attorney Charles Burnham said. Along with the prison term, Pauken received 36 months of supervised release that bars overseas travel. He was arrested in February.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said in a statement that Pauken “betrayed his country for money,” alleging he supported operations by China’s Ministry of State Security, including recruiting and gathering sensitive information from potential assets.
Pauken moved to China in 2010 and worked for several Chinese media outlets, including state broadcaster CCTV. Most recently he served as an editor at Xinhua, China’s state news agency, a role he had held since 2024.
Burnham said his client “has accepted responsibility and respects the court’s sentence,” adding that the government acknowledged in court that Pauken did not provide classified information to China.
Court records outline recruitment and payments
Court filings state that from at least 2019 until February 2026, Pauken acted at the direction of individuals he knew worked for China’s government, including a contact he met in 2017 identified as “Cathy.” According to an FBI affidavit filed Feb. 27 by Special Agent Timothy J. Healy, Pauken was told his reports were read by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Justice Department said Pauken received at least $100,000 for work associated with “Cathy.”
Prosecutors said Pauken was also asked to recruit people to provide classified information. In one instance, he was instructed to meet with “Person 1” and deliver a Samsung phone, a computer, and passwords for Signal and Telegram, as well as NetDisk.
Customs and Border Protection officers stopped Pauken when he returned to the United States in January 2025. During interviews with CBP and the FBI, Pauken said he was “80 percent sure” that a person seeking a job in the Trump administration would share classified information with China, though he said he advised the person not to do so, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit also states that “Cathy” typically paid for Pauken’s trips to the United States and often wired funds to his wife’s bank accounts.
Background on Pauken
Pauken, a Texas native, used the alias Tom McGregor as a commentator and writer at his father’s request to avoid confusion given their shared name. He published two books under his full name, Thomas W. Pauken II, including a 2019 work on U.S.-China relations and a 2023 book about Shenzhen, the mainland city across from Hong Kong.
His father previously chaired the Texas Republican Party in the 1990s and later ran for governor. In the last publicly visible Facebook post under the McGregor name, Pauken shared photos of his wife and child on a trip to Washington, D.C. He was arrested later that month.
The case comes amid a series of high-profile prosecutions, including when a jury returns murder conviction in a separate criminal trial, underscoring the Justice Department’s continued focus on national security and violent crime.
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