WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department said Wednesday that it has fired a U.S. diplomat over a romantic relationship he admitted having with a Chinese woman alleged to have ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
The dismissal is believed to be the first of its kind for violating a ban on such relationships that was introduced late last year under the Biden administration.
The Associated Press reported earlier this year that in the waning days of Democrat Joe Biden's presidency, the State Department imposed a ban on all American government personnel in China, as well as family members and contractors with security clearances, from any romantic or sexual relationships with Chinese citizens.
Tommy Pigott, a State Department spokesman, said in a statement that the diplomat in question was dismissed from the foreign service after President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio reviewed the case and determined that he had “admitted concealing a romantic relationship with a Chinese national with known ties to the Chinese Communist Party.”
"Under Secretary Rubio’s leadership, we will maintain a zero-tolerance policy for any employee who is caught undermining our country’s national security,” Pigott said.
The statement did not identify the diplomat, but he and his girlfriend had been featured in a surreptitiously filmed video posted online by conservative firebrand James O’Keefe.
In Beijing, a Chinese government spokesperson declined to comment on what he said is a domestic U.S. issue. “But I would like to stress that we oppose drawing lines based on ideological difference and maliciously smearing China,” the Foreign Ministry's Guo Jiakun said at a daily briefing.
Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed to this report.
FILE - The State Department seal is seen on the briefing room lectern at the State Department in Washington, Jan. 31, 2022. (Mandel Ngan, Pool via AP, File)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens before interrupting President Donald Trump during a roundtable meeting on antifa in the State Dining Room at the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of a 75-year-old inmate who was set to be executed this week even though he was not in the building when the victim was killed.
Ivey reduced Charles “Sonny” Burton’s sentence to life in prison without possibility of parole, marking just the second time the Republican governor has granted clemency of a death row inmate since taking office in 2017.
Burton was sentenced to death for the 1991 shooting death of a customer, Doug Battle, during a store robbery. However, another man, Derrick DeBruce, shot Battle after Burton had left the building. DeBruce's death sentence was later reduced on appeal to life in prison.
Ivey, who has presided over 25 executions, said she firmly believes in the death penalty as "just punishment for society’s most heinous offenders," but said it also must be administered fairly and proportionately.
“I cannot proceed in good conscience with the execution of Mr. Burton under such disparate circumstances. I believe it would be unjust for one participant in this crime to be executed while the participant who pulled the trigger was not,” Ivey said in a statement.
Burton was scheduled to be executed Thursday night by nitrogen gas.
Battle was shot in the back during an Aug. 16, 1991, robbery of an AutoZone auto parts store in Talladega. Court testimony indicated that DeBruce shot Battle after Burton and other robbers had left the store. Battle had entered the store as the robbery was winding down and exchanged words with DeBruce.
Burton’s supporters and family members had urged Ivey to consider clemency for the inmate, who is sometimes confined to a wheelchair. Multiple jurors from Burton’s 1992 trial were among those urging his life be spared. Battle’s daughter sent a letter to Ivey urging clemency, asking “how does it legally make sense” to execute Burton.
Members of Burton's legal team cheered when they received the news Tuesday.
“I’m just so happy, so happy. It’s just tears of joy,” Burton’s daughter, Lois Harris, said through sobs during a telephone interview. Harris said she wants to thank Ivey for her decision.
But Attorney General Steve Marshall slammed Ivey's decision, saying “There has never been any doubt that Sonny Burton has Douglas Battle’s blood on his hands.”
Burton organized the armed robbery and “held a gun to the store manager’s head” before dividing up the proceeds, Marshall said in a statement.
Burton told The Associated Press last month that no one was supposed to be injured in the robbery and that he didn't know until later that DeBruce had shot anyone.
“I didn’t know anything about nobody getting hurt until we were on the way back. No, nobody supposed to get hurt,” Burton said in a telephone interview from Alabama’s Holman Correctional Facility
Burton said he wants to apologize to Battle’s family. “I’m so sorry. If I had the power to bring him back, I would. I’m so sorry,” Burton said.
People gather outside the Alabama Governor's Mansion in Montgomery, Ala., on Feb. 16, 2026, to urge Gov. Kay Ivey to grant clemency to Sonny Burton, who is scheduled to be executed on March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)
