How discussions involving a senior Biden official could have favored her husband’s interests

EXCLUSIVE — On the morning of July 8, 2021, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo arrived in Washington state for a roundtable that evening with Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) on the need to grow minority-owned small businesses. Earlier that day, before the panel discussion with the powerful Senate Commerce Committee chairwoman, Raimondo had a phone call with Madrona Ventures, a Seattle-based firm that invests in artificial intelligence, according to a copy of Raimondo’s official calendar.

“Big impact,” Cantwell texted Raimondo on July 9, thanking the secretary of commerce for making the trek out west. The top Biden administration official asked Cantwell to remind her of a trail where the senator planned to go hiking in Arizona. Raimondo also, according to internal agency documents reviewed by the Washington Examiner, told Cantwell she would “love to have dinner with you and my husband,” adding, “He works at a very cool artificial intelligence start up.”

“Hauvasupai falls,” Cantwell replied. “Dinner sounds great.”

This exchange and others between Raimondo and individuals connected to the AI space are at the heart of a new ethics complaint against Raimondo by Protect the Public’s Trust, a watchdog tracking alleged conflicts of interest. In the complaint, which was filed Tuesday afternoon with the Commerce Department’s inspector general, the nonprofit organization requested an investigation into Raimondo’s “seemingly improper” interactions about policy matters that could “affect the financial interests of her husband’s companies.”

Raimondo’s husband, Andy Moffit, is the chief business development officer at Sword Health, a healthcare company using AI technology, according to his LinkedIn account. Moffit, between 2020 and 2023, also worked at PathAI, a company reportedly funded by a venture capital firm linked to China’s government.

Internal Commerce Department records notably list copies of a 2021 memo, from Raimondo to then-agency lawyer Quentin Palfrey, that says Raimondo would be disqualified as secretary from “matters having a direct and predictable effect on the financial interests” of PathAI. Moreover, the memo held that Raimondo was disqualified from involvement with matters “affecting the company as a member of an industry sector or group.” Raimondo listed in a recent financial disclosure report that her husband owned stock shares in PathAI and Sword Health, PPT said in its complaint.

PPT argued Raimondo’s relationship with Cantwell, which according to calendar records continued as the senator readied legislation related to AI, should be reviewed by the agency’s inspector general. As chairwoman of the Senate Commerce Committee, Cantwell oversees AI-related matters.

The watchdog’s complaint also highlighted an August 2021 text message from Guardant Health CEO Helmy Eltouhky to Raimondo. In the message, the businessman wrote that it was “very nice meeting you and your husband Andy.” Guardant Health is a biotechnology company using AI. It also, PPT argued, is linked to PathAI’s financial interests due to their focus in a niche sector.

“Such a small world given the PathAI and Fialkow connections,” Eltouhky told Raimondo on Aug. 22, 2021, appearing to refer to David Fialkow, the co-founder of a venture capital firm said to be invested in PathAI.

Fialkow, later that year, would gift Raimondo tickets valued at $2,700 to the Kennedy Center Honors gala in Boston, according to a financial disclosure filed by Raimondo.

Other interactions should also be investigated by the inspector general’s office, according to PPT, which is led by former Education Department official Michael Chamberlain. Calendar records suggest Raimondo met various times with Sam Altman, the CEO of the company OpenAI, which is behind ChatGPT.

One interaction was at the November 2023 First Developer Conference. Another interaction was in July 2023, according to calendar records, which listed a meeting between the two at a hotel bar after a separate conference.

“While all the details of what was discussed at these meetings have not been disclosed, even in the
absence of her disqualification statement, these scheduled meetings with Mr. Altman, often in
conjunction with engagements with the AI industry, raise serious questions about her impartiality
and the potential impact of the meetings on PathAI and/or Sword Health,” Chamberlain wrote in the complaint.

The complaint, moreover, highlighted a May 2023 meeting about AI at the White House listed on Raimondo’s official calendar. According to White House records, the meeting included Altman and the CEOs of other companies involved in AI, such as Anthropic.

Two months later, in July 2023, Raimondo participated in a “White House AI Business Leaders Meeting,” according to her calendar. Several companies that were in attendance “committed to develop and deploy advanced AI systems to address society’s greatest challenges”, including cancer prevention, the White House said at the event’s conclusion.

“Plainly, such collaboration between officials at the highest levels of government and a select group of business leaders in the AI industry provide ample opportunity to develop policies favorable to PathAI and/or Sword Health, whether as individual entities or members of the AI industry,” Chamberlain wrote in the complaint, which cited federal ethics rules and Raimondo’s prior disqualification statement.

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“The actions discussed above suggest a low regard for ethics obligations that government
officials holding a position of public trust are expected to meticulously follow,” the complaint added.

The Commerce Department and its inspector general’s office did not reply to requests for comment. Cantwell’s office also did not reply.