A former top New York state official who is accused of spying for China once remarked that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was “much more obedient” than then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Linda Sun made the remark after she convinced Hochul, who served as Cuomo’s lieutenant governor at the time, to film a Lunar New Year video touting China’s New York consulate, the New York Post reported, citing evidence presented at Sun’s corruption trial.

“She is much more obedient than the governor,” Sun wrote to China consular official Lihua Li in a Jan. 25, 2021, message shown to jurors in Brooklyn federal court.

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Minutes later, Sun texted Huang Ping, who headed the consulate office at the time.

“The deputy governor listens to me more than the governor does,” she allegedly wrote, prosecutors said.

Chinese officials had asked for Cuomo to film the video, but Sun told them that she could likely get Hochul to participate instead, prosecutors said.

“Let me ask, but likely the LG can probably do it,” Sun replied to Li, referring to Hochul.

“That would be great as well. Thanks,” Li responded.

In the two-minute video, Hochul is seen wishing everyone a happy Lunar New Year and talking about the “privilege” of working with the Chinese-American community and the Chinese consular office. Fox News Digital has reached out to Hochul’s office.

Sun, who also served under Hochul, is charged with violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling, and money laundering conspiracy.

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Prosecutors from the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office believe that Sun acted on behalf of the Chinese government on a number of occasions, including seeking a high-level state visit to China and preventing representatives of the Taiwanese government from meeting with American officials.

In 2023, Sun was fired from her position after “evidence of misconduct” was discovered. She is accused of doing favors for Chinese officials in exchange for millions of dollars in business funneled to her husband, Chris Hu, who conducted business in China.

Hu and Sun are accused of using the money to buy property in Long Island, New York, and Honolulu worth more than $6 million, in addition to a 2024 Ferrari Roma sports car.

In one instance, Sun allegedly claimed to be able to stop Cuomo from mentioning the plight of the Uyghurs, the predominantly Muslim ethnic group that has been targeted by the Chinese government through mass incarceration and forced labor, according to human rights advocates.

In the Jan. 25, 2021, exchange with Ping, Sun wrote that she had an “argument” with Cuomo’s speechwriter, who had “insisted” on bringing up the Uyghurs, according to the Post report.

“This person has never been to China, right? He knows very little about China,” Ping replied.

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“Never been there,” Sun said. “I’m going to collapse.”

“I will think of a solution tomorrow, but I will definitely not let the governor bring it up,” Sun added.

Sun’s lawyers argued that her relationship with Chinese officials was not improper and was legal.

“Linda Sun did what she was hired to do. She didn’t commit a crime by doing her job,” defense attorney Jarrod Schaeffer told jurors at the start of the trial, the Post reported.

WASHINGTON  — The Supreme Court ruled for Texas and its GOP leaders on Thursday, clearing the way for the state to use a new election map in 2026 that is expected to send five more Republicans to Congress.

The justices set aside, for now, a 2-1 ruling by district judges who called the state’s map a racial gerrymander. Thursday’s vote was 6-3 along the usual lines, with the conservative justices in the majority and the three liberals in dissent.

The court’s five-paragraph order said the district judges “failed to honor the presumption of legislative good faith by construing ambiguous direct and circumstantial evidence against the legislature.”

“The impetus for the adoption of the Texas map (like the map subsequently adopted in California) was partisan advantage pure and simple,” wrote Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. in a concurring opinion.

Texas lawmakers had said they acted out of partisan motives, not racial ones.

“Today’s order disrespects the work of a District Court that did everything one could ask to carry out its charge — that put aside every consideration except getting the issue before it right,” wrote Justice Elena Kagan in dissent. “And today’s order disserves the millions of Texans whom the District Court found were assigned to their new districts based on their race. Because this Court’s precedents and our Constitution demand better, I respectfully dissent.”

She was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The decision bolsters Republicans in their bid to retain control of the House, and it’s a setback for Democrats and voting rights advocates.

It is consistent with the conservative majority’s view that drawing election districts is a “political question” left to state lawmakers, not judges. But in the past, the court also said racial gerrymandering is unconstitutional under the 14th and 15th Amendments.

In response to the Texas mid-decade redistricting, California Gov. Gavin Newsom won voters’ approval for redrawing his state’s congressional districts with the aim of electing five more Democrats in 2026.

On Nov. 21, Texas state’s attorneys filed an emergency appeal at the Supreme Court, urging the justices to act quickly to block the lower court’s ruling.

They argued the new election map for Texas was drawn based on partisan advantage, not the race of the voters. And they said a further delay would disrupt the next election because Dec. 8 is the filing deadline for candidates.

They cited the so-called “Purcell principle” as grounds for setting aside the district court ruling because it came to close to an impending election.

The Texas mid-decade restricting arose in July.

“Texas has also made a strong showing of irreparable harm and that the equities and public interest favor it,” the Supreme Court ruling said. “This Court has repeatedly emphasized that lower federal courts should ordinarily not alter the election rules on the eve of an election. The District Court violated that rule here.”

Acting at the behest of President Trump, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called for a special session of the Legislature to redraw its 38 congressional voting districts with the aim of ousting five Democrats from the House of Representatives.

As justification, he cited the “constitutional concerns” raised by Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice.

She contended the state had several unconstitutional “coalition districts” which had a “non-White” majority made up of Black and Latino voters.

Voting rights advocates said Texas Republicans followed her view and redrew districts near Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth to erase those where Latino and Black voters formed a majority.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown said the evidence showed the Texas “Legislature had redistricted not for the political goal of appeasing President Trump nor of gaining five Republican U.S. House seats, but to achieve DOJ’s racial goal of eliminating coalition districts.”

If so, he said, the new map should be set aside, and the state should use the 2021 map drawn by the GOP.

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday announced an investigation into what he called a “troubling incident,” in which a midwestern school allegedly vaccinated a child without their parent’s consent.

In a video statement on X, Kennedy said that HHS is taking “decisive steps” to defend parents’ rights to guide their child’s health decisions following the alleged incident.

“A school administered a federally funded vaccine to a child without the parent’s consent and despite a legally recognized state exemption,” he said. “When any institution — a school, a doctor’s office, a clinic — disregards a religious exemption, it doesn’t just break trust, it also breaks the law.”

“We’re not going to tolerate it,” he added.

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Kennedy did not identify the state, the school or the vaccine said to be involved.

Kennedy said that the Trump administration will ensure that health care providers and institutions will not ignore parental rights when it comes to their children’s health.

“We will use every tool we have to protect families and restore accountability,” he said.

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Kennedy said HHS is launching compliance reviews of major providers and health care systems to ensure that they give parents timely access to their children’s information. He said a letter will be issued reminding providers of “their clear legal duty” to share medical records with parents — with “no delays, no secrets, no excuses.”

A second letter from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) went to HRSA grant recipients, stressing that federal dollars require compliance with laws protecting parental rights.

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HHS is also reviewing how states and districts process medical and religious exemptions to ensure the federally funded Vaccines for Children program complies with federal and state law.

Kennedy added that parents may file complaints with the HHS Office for Civil Rights if they believe their rights — or their children’s — have been violated.