Daughter of former NY senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan caught on video racially abusing young Asian-American couple

The woman made the comments despite spending much of her career reporting in Asia

Maura Moynihan, the daughter of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, screaming at Daniel Lee and Maria Ha. The couple accused her of racially abusing them and saying Ms Ha should “go back to China." (Instagram, screengrab)

The daughter of the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan has been accused of racially abusing an Asian-American couple after video of her ranting and telling them to "go back to China" circulated online.

The footage shows Ms Moynihan having a heated argument with Dan Lee, who began filming her after she allegedly told Mr Lee's wife, Maria Ha, to "go back to China."

Ms Ha shared the footage on her Instagram account. She claims the confrontation took place at 1:25pm near a Manhattan street corner.

The video of the harassment comes as racially motivated attacks against Asian-Americans are on the rise and just days after a the Atlanta spa shooting that left six Asian women dead.

Maura Moynihan admitted to radio station WABC that she was the woman who appeared in the video, but denies making racist remarks. 

According to Ms Ha, Ms Moynihan attacked her unprovoked.

 “You’re not from here. Go back to Communist China b****,” Ms Moynihan allegedly said.

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Ms Ha said she ran home to get her husband, Mr Lee. When he arrived, Ms Moynihan was entering a cab. He approaches her and begins filming.

During the footage, Ms Moynihan repeatedly accuses Ms Moynihan of "assaulting" her and asks the couple to leave her alone.

Mr Lee can be heard over the recording challenging Ms Moynihan to repeat herself.

"Say that racist s*** again. You said Communist China?" he said.

"Well isn't that where you're from?" Ms Moynihan replies.

The couple told WABC that they eventually left the area, but as they were leaving Ms Moynihan rolled down her window and shouted "go back to Communist China" as they were crossing the street.

Ms Ha shared the footage on social media hoping to find the Ms Moynihan's identity.

Ms Moynihan said her rants had nothing to do with race and were just an argument over a cab that got heated.

'I have devoted most of my life to working with and for Asian people, most particularly in the cause of securing basic human rights for the Tibetan people in their continuing struggle against Communist China,' Ms Moynihan said.

According to Ms Moynihan's website, she is a "journalist and researcher in Asia, specialising in Tibet, China, Nepal Thailand and India" and she describes herself as an author and a filmmaker.

Mr Lee said her work in Asia does not excuse her racism.

'Just because she's done all these things in the past does not justify what she said. What she said wasn't an apology. We don't accept that behavior at all," he said. "This is extremely hurtful. Like for me personally I was born in the U.S. my entire life and to be told to leave this country, to go back to Communist China is seriously offensive. I was born here, this is my home."

Attacks against Asian-Americans has increased over the past year according to StopAAPIHate, which advocates against anti-Asian hate.

Since the pandemic began, there have been 3,795 reports of anti-Asian attacks.

Many activists blame Donald Trump's anti-Chinese rhetoric and his tendency to shove off responsibility for the US's failure to effectively contain the coronavirus onto China as partial drivers of the increased attacks.

Mr Trump repeatedly called the coronavirus the "China virus" and pulled out of the World Health Organisation because it was not sufficiently hard enough of China for his liking.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that there was "no question" that Mr Trump's "damaging rhetoric" resulted in warping some American's views of individuals of Asian heritage.