Donor surrenders as Clinton camp ponders ... (The FBI has opened an investigation into donations)

How could the senator's campaign have missed the red flags over Hsu? As Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu confronted an old criminal case and faced a new FBI investigation Friday, a fundamental question persisted: How did Democratic presidential front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign fail to see the red flags in Hsu's contributions?

Until this week, Clinton counted Hsu as one of her most prolific money bundlers. He gave her campaign $22,300, regularly appeared as a co-host for major fundraising lunches and dinners, and raised more than $100,000 from his friends for her presidential run.

Obviously, we were all surprised by this news, and we have a procedure that we follow and upon verifying it, we returned his money," Clinton said this week.

When a campaign has attracted more than 500,000 donors, as Clinton's has, there is no way a candidate's staff can check out each contributor. Clinton and her aides said there was little they could have done to protect themselves, but fundraising experts from both parties pointed to warning signs that should have given aides pause.

"If I were raising money for the prohibitive front-runner for president of the United States, I would be very, very careful about who these donors are and do some level of research," said Marty Wilson, a Republican strategist and fundraiser for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and others.

DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON
SECTION: BEHIND THE TREASON ALLEGATIONS
SUBSECTION: JOHN HUANG
Revised 1/10/00

Freeper ohmlaw98 and others:

House Government Reform Committee 10/1999 “….The following information was obtained from the Government Reform and Oversight Committee public archives documenting Campaign Finance Investigations. …….. To view the complete summaries follow the links included below.

FBI Interview Summaries for John Huang
(PDF I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X)

DIRECT EXERPTS FROM FBI SUMMARIES OF HUANG INTERVIEWS:

(These exerpts have been reformatted to HTML from original documents in PDF format. Some word and character definition errors exist as a result of the translation)

(>>>Begin>>>)

FBI Summaries: Vols-II and III)

POSSIBLE QUID PRO QUOS

“J. RIADY believed that in general, free trade would be good for everyone and would bene’fit LIPPO GROUP. However, HUANG was not aware of any quid pro quo situations regarding free trade issues and contributions made by J. RIADY, HUANG himself, LIPPO GROUP employees or LIPPO GROUP entities.”

“HUANG did not believe that contributions were made by J. RIADY, HUANG himself, LIPPO GROUP employees or LIPPO GROUP entities primarily to promote free trade even though such contributions “wouldn’t hurt” when it came to pending free trade issues in the U.S.”

“Rather, contributions were made primarily because foreign businessmen were highly regarded overseas that had political contacts in the U.S. LIPPO GROUP employees, HUANG and J. RIADY obtained political contacts when contributions were given to campaign committees.”

“HUANG could not recall having any specific conversations with J. RIADY where J. RIADY asked HUANG to lobby on a specific issue.”

“J. RIADY tried to get U.S. officials to go to East Timor to get a better understanding of what was going on there. However, HUANG was not aware of the reason J. RIADY took an interest in East Timor.”

“HUANG laughed in response to questions. concerning J. RIADY’s interest in Utah coal restrictions. J. RIADY’s coal interests were minimal. Indonesia had significant infrastructure problems which prohibited the development of its coal resources.”

“J. RIADY did ask HUANG to deliver a letter to PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON concerning China and Vietnam.”

“The joint venture between CHINA RESOURCES and LIPPO GROUP formed after HUANG was no longer employed at LIPPO GROUP. CHINA RESOURCES was the largest trading group outside of China.”

“In approximately 1990, M. RIADY met with MR. LI PENG (phonetic) and LI LANQUIANG (phonetic), the former Premier and Vice Premier of China, respectively.”

“M. RIADY did not feel comfortable dealing with China until after he traveled there for six to nine months.”

“M. RIADY noticed that China was trying to lure its students that were educated and living in the U.S. back to China.”

“HUANG had not met LI PENG.”

“HUANG had no pertinent knowledge of the Chinese intelligence community.”

“In March 1994, HUANG went on a COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED (ClOO) trip to Beijing. People from ENTERGY and JOE GIROIR were there as well. HUANG met with the ENTERGY people in Beijing regarding Chinese officials. There was also a large group meeting for the ClOO.”

“LI RUI HUAN (phonetic) was at the large group meeting.”

“The ENTERGY project was not discussed on the Cl00 trip to Beijing at any meetings. Such discussions would have been improper because the ENTERGY project was not part of the ClOO’s business.”

“In April 1994, HUANG took a trip to Arkansas and attended a meeting with representatives from LIPPO GROUP and ENTERGY. Some people traveled from China to attend the meeting. The meeting was held in order to discuss a possible joint venture between LIPPO GROUP and ENTERGY with some investment bankers.”

“While HUANG worked for the DOC, GIROIR traveled to Washington, D.C., and visited the DOC. While GIRIO’R was at the DOC, HUANG introduced GIROIR to DAVID ROTHKOPF. MELINDA YEE was present during the introductions.

“HUANG was not involved in any future dealings between GIROIR and ROTHKOPF. HUANG’s only role was to introduce’them.”

“HUANG attended a meeting on October 23, 1994, at B SMITH’s RESTAURANT in Washington, D.C. at Union Station. HUANG was invited as a guest to join in the meeting.”

“HUANG did not say much at the meeting and did not get involved. HUANG had no working knowledge of the ENTERGY project even while HUANG worked for LIPPO GROUP because the project was handled in Hong Kong. HUANG had no financial interest in the ENTERGY joint venture with LIPPO GROUP. HUANG doubted that the U.S. government was in a position to help the ENTERGY joint venture.”

“However, RON BROWN was pitching the joint venture because it could increase jobs in the U.S.

STEPHENS GROUP

“JACK STEPHENS and J. RIADY were close business associates.”

“As a courtesy to HUANG, VERNON WEAVER of STEPHENS. INC. offered HUANG the use of office space at STEPHENS, INC. in’washington, D.C. HUANG used the office space for any matters he dealt with that had no relation to his job at the DOC. For examflle, HUANG assisted C. DE QUELJOE by helping get C. DE QUELJOE’s son in’to the Naval Academy.”

“HUANG used the phone and office at STEPHENS, INC. regarding this matter. HUANG also used the phone and office for Cl00 matters. During the time when HUANG worked for the DOC, HUANG introduced FONG to WEAVER and WEAVER’s assistant at STEPHENS, INC.”

“The introductions took place in Los Angeles on a Friday. HUANG was on government travel for another matter and stopped in Los Angeles for the weekend on his return trip to Washington, D.C. WEAVER wanted to meet FONG to solicit bond business from him. HUANG would not rule out that he may have informed FONG that STEPHENS, INC. could effectively handle bond business.

HUANG made the introductions and favorable comments regarding STEPHEN, INC. to FONG.

HUANG did not receive any payments from anyone in return for introducing FONG to WEAVER.

CLASSIFIED INFORMATION

“HUANG never shared any classified information that he received at the DOC with anyone not entitled to such information, including any LIPPO GROUP personnel.”

“HUANG did not share any nonclassified information that he received at the DOC with anyone for an improper purpose. He did not share any nonclassified information with anyone unless the information was already public knowledge.”

DEPARTURE FROM THE COMMERCE DEPARTMENT

“HUANG joined the DOC for various reasons. First, there were few people in his community that worked in government. People from HUANG’s community suggested to him that he get involved in U.S. government.”

“Second, by working for the gQvernment, HUANG thought that he might be able to help more Asian Americans work for the government in the future.”

“Lastly, J. RIADY encouraged HUANG to join the DOC.”

“HUANG thought that J. RIADY was a bit “naive” regarding the benefit that would be obtained from HUANG working for the DOC. The most benefit that J. RIADY obtained from HUANG working at the DOC was that J. RIADY could tell other people that he knew someone that currently worked for the U.S. government.”

“HUANG left his job at the DOC because he never did any meaningful work. HUANG was only assigned administrative duties at the DOC.”

“The “power struggle” between CHARLES MEISSNER and DAVID ROTHKOPF began before HUANG worked for the DOC. HUANG was associated with MEISSNER. As a result of ROTHKOPF and JEFFREY GARTEN’s dominant roles, HUANG received less responsibilities.”

“HUANG had little contact with GARTEN while HUANG worked for the DOC. GARTEN and ROTHKOPF’s offices were next to one another at the DOC.”

“HUANG could have started working at the DOC earlier than he did however, HUANG wanted to work for someone that he knew at the DOC. HUANG knew RON BROWN and started working for the DOC subsequent to RON BROWN’s appointment at the DOC.”

“By the end of 1993, HUANG was ready to begin working for the DOC. However, HUANG did not begin working there until July 1994, because he had to fill out numerous forms and background checks had to be performed on him.”

“HUANG did not delay his appointment to the DOC in order to participate in a fundraiser.”

“In August 1993, HUANG interviewed with GARTEN, and GARTEN asked HUANG for the names of HUANG’s references.”

“In October or November of 1993, HUANG met MEISSNER to determine their “chemistry” since HUANG would be working with MEISSNER.”

“MEISSNER told HUANG that his job at the DOC was going to be Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia.”

“HUANG had no knowledge of what went on behind the scenes at the DOC which resulted in HUANG’s position getting changed.”

“The Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia position was given to NANCY PATTON.”

“HUANG’s’position at the DOC was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary.”

HUANG’S FUNDRAISING AT THE COMMERCE DEPARTMENT

“HUANG participated in a fundraiser for TOM DASCHLE in Washington, D.C.”

“HUANG solicited contributions for DASCHLE’s campaign when HUANG worked for LIPPO GROUP.”

“DR. TIMOTHY YU was a businessman who specialized in environmental matters. HUANG and YU got to know one another through the PACIFIC LEADERSHIP COUNCIL (PLC).”

“YU contributed to campaigns,and HUANG solicited contributions from YU while HUANG worked for LIPPO GROUP. HUANG did not recall ever soliciting YU for contributions when HUANG worked at the DOC.”

“HUANG did provide information to YU regarding a November 1995 AL GORE DNC fundraising event.”

“In the Spring or Fall of 1995, HUANG or JANE HUANG made a contribution at a DSCC event in Washington, D.C. for TOM DASCHLE. HUANG probably did not invite people to the DSCC event. However, HUANG may have given YU’s name to others as a possible contributor.”

“The night before the DSCC event described above, there was an event for GEPHARDT held at MARVIN DAVIS’ home. HUANG did not ask anyone to attend or contribute to the event. AL GORE attended the event. Tickets to the event were $5,000. HUANG and JANE HUANG attended.”

“AUSA O’BRIEN read a letter, typed on TOM DASCHLE letterhead, dated April 13, 1995, from STEVE ERPENBACH and SENATOR TOM DASCHLE to DR. TIMOTHY YU which stated that HUANG had attended an event for DASCHLE and that HUANG encouraged DASCHLE to meet with YU.”

“HUANG did not have any discussions with DASCHLE regarding YU but possibly discussed YU with DSCC fundraisers.

“HUANG could not recall any specific conversations he had with anyone at the DSCC regarding YU.”

“At most, HUANG gave names of individuals who could “help” the DSCC to DSCC fundraisers.”

“HUANG and YU had both been members of the DSCC in the early 1990s.”

“HUANG possibly had a conversation with YU wherein YU expressed interest in getting involved in the DSCC again. HUANG did not ask YU to make a contribution to the DSCC. HUANG did not suggest to YU that he give money to the DSCC BUSINESS ROUND TABLE or the DSCC LEADERSHIP CIRCLE. However, HUANG may have suggested to YU that he become a member of the DSCC BUSINESS ROUND TABLE or the DSCC LEADERSHIP CIRCLE.”

“HUANG knew that YU already knew the dollar amounts of contributions associated with being a member. of the DSCC BUSINESS ROUND TABLE and the DSCC LEADERSHIP CIRCLE. However, HUANG did not ask YU to become a member of the DSCC BUSINESS ROUND TABLE or the DSCC LEADERSHIP CIRCLE.”

“Rather, HUANG’s discussions with YU regarding DSCC BUSINESS ROUND TABLE or the DSCC LEADERSHIP CIRCLE were more general in nature.”

“SHARI YOST was a fundraiser for the DSCC.”

“The most HUANG could recall of any conversations he had with YOST while HUANG worked at the DOC consisted of HUANG suggesting names of possible contributors to YOST.”

“HUANG may have given YU’s name to YOST as a person interested in becoming involved in the DSCC again.”

“The name STEVE ERPENBACH sounded familiar to HUANG.”

“HUANG may have suggested names of possible contributors to ERPENBAC’H and TRICIA RIFFENBERG.

“AUSA O’BRIEN showed HUANG handwritten notes written on DSCC letterhead which had the heading “Prospects from DNC Lists” and had the following noted: “(John HUANG - in D-C.? has pres apptmt but can raise - ASIAN $?” )”

“HUANG did not recognize the handwriting on the note.”

“HUANG responded that the person who wrote the note did not know what he/she was talking about.”

“HUANG did not ever solicit MI AHN to make, a contribution while HUANG worked for the DOC. M. AHN and HUANG knew each other from their involvement in the DSCC in earlier years. While HUANG worked at the DOC, M. AHN called HUANG at his office and advised that she and her sister SUZANNE AHN were upset with the DSCC regarding the WARD’s COVE civil rights suit in Alaska.”

“M. AHN and S. AHN had lobbied the SENATE to override the decision and only got twenty signatures. M AHN told HUANG that she no longer wanted to support the DSCC and asked HUANG for his advice regarding how to handle her dissatisfaction with the DSCC. In response, rather than the DSCC.HUANG suggested that M. AHN support the DNC HUANG thought that M. AHN was in California when she called him regarding the DSCC matter.”

HUANG had spoken to M. AHN on the phone prior to the call regarding the DSCC and ‘WA.RD’s COVE. Sometimes, HUANG spoke to M. AHN on the phone for no particular reason other than to say hello and see how she was doing.

“HUANG could not specifically recall why he called M. AHN in Seoul, Korea, in late May 1995”

“HUANG thought there were two possible reasons for the call. First, he may have called M. AHN for no particular reason other than to say hello. Second,. he may have spoken to her about a visit to the U.S. by the President of South Korea, KIM YONG SAN.”

“Either way, the call”to M. AHN was not regarding fundraising.”

“HUANG tried to contact M. AHN to discuss her attending the DNC AL GORE event held in November 1995.”

“HUANG’s style and approach was to ask individuals to attend the event rather than to contribute money. M. AHN did not attend such event. HUANG did not know why M. AHN did not attend the event but thought that M. AHN may have already had previous plans to attend another fundraising event. MERCER did not ask HUANG to contact M. AHN regarding the event.”

“HUANG met with M. AHN at the SHERATON CARLTON in July 1995, for one of two possible reasons. First, they may have met regarding a visit to the U.S. by the.President of South Korea, KIM YONG SAN.”

“Second, they may have met to discuss the appointment of members of the Advisory Committee to the U.S. Trade Representatives Office-.,-Later, M. AHN was appointed to such committee. HUANG did not know when she was appointed.”

“There was a state dinner held when KIM visited the U.S. in 1995. Normally, a guest list was formed for such dinners, which included various members of the community. HUANG received a call from MRS. MATSUI asking HUANG for suggested names of persons in the community to invite to the dinner. HUANG suggested the names of M. AHN and her sister, SUZANNE AHN, to attend the dinner.”

“RICHARD PARK and RICHARD BERTCH attended the dinner but were not invited by HUP..NG or their names suggested by HUANG.”

“HUANG knew the distinction between inviting persons t0 attend events verses soliciting persons for monetary contributions.”

“HUANG understood that the Hatch Act provided that it was permitted to invite people to attend fundraising events and to recommend names of possible contributors to the DNC. However, the Hatch Act prohibited the solicitation of contributions. “

“HUANG received a memo while he worked at the DOC regarding the Hatch Act regulations.”

“The memo had been issued by GINGER LEW’s office of General Counsel.”

“When HUANG asked a person to attend an event with a price tag on it while he worked for the DOC, HUANG’s state of mind was that he was in dangerous territory with respect to the Hatch Act.”

“Prior to September 1995, when he decided to work for the DNC, the idea to raise money while employed at the DOC did not come to HUANG’s mind.”

“MONA PASQUIL raised.the issue with HUANG of HUANG helping get people to attend the DNC AL GORE event held in November 1995. The event cost $10,000 per person to attend. PASQUIL might have asked HUANG to call M. AHN regarding the event.”

“PASQUIL definitely discussed the “CHONG LO situation” with HUANG.”

“The DNC had been calling LO to invite her.to fundraising events. However, LO was not attending such events. PASQUIL told HUANG that she had called LO. HUANG told PASQUIL that he would call LO. Therefore, HUANG called LO and urged her to attend the November 1995, DNC AL GORE event.

“LO told HUANG that she would rather use her money for other things. Later, HUANG learned that LO had a LOTUS fund and wanted to use her money for it. HUANG never asked LO to contribute $100,000 to the event.”

“HUANG first met LO in the late Summer of 1995.”

“HUANG did not know LO by any other names at that time. HUANG did not recall ever meeting LO through WONNE LEE; however; HUANG did know LEE.”

“HUANG did not recall ever discussing fundraising with LO while LO was physically at the DOC. HUANG spoke to LO’s brother regarding fundraising events when HUANG worked at the DNC.”

“HUANG did not attend a White House coffee in August 1995, which LO attended. LO’s LOTUS fund failed, and HUANG read accusations made by LO in the newspaper which indicated that LO blamed HUANG for the failure of LO’s event. However, HUANG did not believe that LO held any grudges against HUANG.”

“HUANG physically moved his office to the DNC on December 4, 1995.”

“HUANG did.not contact people regarding the February 1996, DNC event held at the HAY-ADAMS HOTEL before he physically began working at the DNC.”

“BEN TANG attended an AL GORE function while HUANG worked at the DNC. However, FANG did not solicit TANG for contrib’utions or invite TANG to any fundraising events tihile HUANG was employed at the DOC.”

“HUANG and/or JANE HUANG did not, contact the following individuals regarding the AL GORE DNC event held in November 1995: BHUPIE PATEL, SANT CHATWAL, DAVID WONG, SUZANNE AHN, HENRY OTA, WHAJA PARK, GELLY BORROMEO, DR. MARWA, SUNIL PURI,’DAVID KIM, HERBERT KIM, ED CHIN, DANG PHAM, LAM NGUYEN and STEVE KAHNG.”

“HUANG may have contacted BONNIE WONG regarding the AL GORE DNC event held in November1995.”

“JANE HUANG did not contact A. WIRIADINATA, S. WIRIADINATA and M. AHN regarding the AL GORE DNC event held in November 1995.”

“HUANG did not think that JANE HUANG met the WIRIADINATAs but thought that she had met M. AHN.”

“While HUANG was at the DOC, MERCER called him and wanted to meet HUANG outside. HUANG met MERCER in the lobby of the WILLARD HOTEL. MERCER wanted to know if HUANG had any names to refer to MERCER regarding fundraising.”

“This meeting was unrelated to the AL GORE DNC event held in November 1995, and occurred months before the AL GORE DNC event. HUANG had lunch during his early emploflent at the DOC with MERCER at the OLD ABBOTT GRILL (phonetic). No substantial matters were discussed.”

“HUANG had a separate, telephonic convers,ation with MERCER regarding the AL GORE DNC event held in November 1995.”

“MERCER told HUANG that the DNC really needed help for the event. However, MERCER did not ask HUANG.to perform any specific tasks to help the DNC or MERCER.”

“MERCER must have been aware of the HATCH ACT provisions based on the following. Once, HUANG told MERCER not to get HUANG involved in all “this regarding fundraising.” Also, MERCER asked HUANG to meet MERCER outside regarding the WILLARD HOTEL meeting.”

“Lastly, MERCER listed JANE HUANG as a solicitor when she did not solicit funds.”

“HUANG did not recognize the name GARY CHRISTOPHERSON.”

“PAULINE KANCHANALAK visited HUANG regarding her organizing the U.S. THAI BUSINESS COUNCIL.”

“The husband of DEBBIE SHON was hired by KANCHANALAK as the Executive Director of the U.S. THAI BUSINESS COUNCIL.”

“SHON’.s husband demanded from KANCHANALAK commissions for enlisted people’s support. KANCHANALAK came to HUANG’s office at the DOC to ask HUANG for advice on KANCHANALAK not continuing her employment with DEBBIE SHON’s husband.”

“HUANG advised KANCHANALAK to talk directly to DEBBIE SHON about KANCHANALAK’s problems.”

“KANCHANALAK attended the AL GORE DNC event held in November 1995. HUANG asked PASQUIL of-the DNC to get KANCHANALAK a seat at the event.”

“KANCHANALAK did not make a contribution to the event.”

JOINING THE DNC

“HUANG traveled to the White House “quite a lot.”

“While HUANG was employed by LIPPO GROUP and before June 1994, HUANG visited the WHITE HOUSE approximately twenty times. However, HUANG did not visit the Oval Office every time he visited the White House.”

“HUANG visited the Oval Office on April 19, 1994, which was HUANG’s first time in the Oval Office. GROBMYER was in the Oval Office at that time as well.”

“The visit was not in connection with HUANG’s DOC appointment. Rather, the discussions consisted of casual conversation, and some photos were taken. The visit was strictly social and was very brief because PRESIDENT CLINTON was very-busy at the time because it was during the incidents in Waco, Texas; involving DAVID KORESH.”

“HUANG could not recall any additional visits to the Oval Office during his employment at LIPPO GROUP.”

“During his employment at the DOC, HUANG Visited the White House.approximately thirty to forty times.”

“HUANG recalled three visits to the Oval Office while he worked for the DOC. TWO of the visits were to attend Saturday Night Addresses.”

“J. RIADY and GIROIR accompanied HUANG on his third visit to the Oval Office while he worked at the DOC. BRUCE LINDSEY was also present.”

“Originally, HUANG was not scheduled to go into the Oval Office at all on the third visit. However, GIROIR called NANCY HEPREICH (phonetic) and got HUANG into the Oval Office.”

“While in the Oval Office, J. RIADY suggested that HUANG could be very helpful in the Asian American community and discussed HUANG working for the DNC.”

“HUANG said little while in the Oval Office but expressed interest in working for the DNC after J.RIADY had brought up the topic. Previously, HUANG had discussed working at the DNC with J. RIADY in late Summer or early Fall.”

“Huang could not recall any additional visits to the Oval Office during his employment at the DOC.”

“After HUANG’s visit to the Oval Office with J. RIADY and GIROIR, LINDSEY called HUANG and asked him if he really wanted to work for the DNC since HUANG had not said much during the meeting.”

“After HUANG’s discussion with LINDSEY regarding HUANG’s interest in working for the DNC, HUANG had a meeting.with.HAROLD ICKES in September or October of 1995 regarding HUANG’s possible employment at the DNC.”

“In the meeting, HUANG raised the matter of the importance of Asian American issues. HUANG told ICKES that Asian Americans in the Silicon Valley were good sources for contributions. HUANG was not aware of when ICKES got involved in assisting HUANG getting employment at the DNC.”

“HUANG believed that ICKES may have been tasked by PRESIDENT CLINTON or by LINDSEY to make sure that HUANG went from working for the DOC to working for the DNC.”

“HUANG may have had a telephone conversation with ICKES subsequent to the one in September or October of 1995 in which ICKES discussed HUANG helping find people in the Asian American community to support JESSE JACKSON’s campaign. This conversation took place while HUANG worked at the DOC. HUANG knew that ICKES meant support in the form of financial support. HUANG and ICKES did not discuss the Hatch Act in the conversation. The conversation was very brief.”

“HUANG did not know if MARIA HALEY was involved in the process of getting HUANG hired at the DNC.”

“During his employment at the DNC, HUANG visited the White House approximately eighty something times.”

“HUANG visited the Oval Office twice for radio addresses while he worked for the DNC.”

“Huang could not recall any additional visits to the Oval Office during his employment at the DNC.”

“HUANG never met one on one with PRESIDENT CLINTON while HUANG was employed by the DNC.”

“HUANG’s response to the allegations regarding PRESIDENT CLINTON pushing him to the DNC was that they were not true. HUANG did not know what went on behind the scenes. However, PRESIDENT CLINTON may have asked LINDSEY to assist in getting HUANG a job at the DNC.”

“RON BROWN knew that HUANG was leaving the DOC for the DNC.”

“GIROIR may have spoken to DON FOWLER regarding HUANG working for the DNC.”

“MIDDLETON may have also helped.”

“HUANG knew of no improprieties to get HUANG hired at the DNC as a vehicle for J. RIADY to get foreign money funneled into election campaigns.”

“J..RIADY did not suggest to HUANG that he work for the DNC in order for J. RIADY to get foreign money funneled into election campaigns. No suggestion was made by J. RIADY to HUANG ‘regarding changing the manner of making contributions once HUANG was employed by the DNC.”

“HUANG did not recall ever meeting with FOWLER regarding employment at the DNC.”

“While HUANG worked at the DOC, there was a group of people from Taiwan that were going to visit the DNC. A person who worked for the DNC in an area other than fundraising called HUANG and asked HUANG to brief FOWLER about Taiwan.”

“While HUANG worked for the DOC, J. RIADY visited the U.S. and met with RICHARD SULLIVAN, FOWLER and GIROIR. GIROIR set up the meeting.”

“J. RIADY was staying at the FOUR SEASONS HOTEL at the time. Asian community issues were discussed in the meeting, and HUANG may have been discussed as well. HUANG came in at the end of the meeting.”

“While HUANG worked at the DNC, FOWLER asked HUANG to ask some of HUANG’s friends to check up on FOWLER’s daughter while she was visiting Jakarta.”

SOLICITATIONS OF FOREIGN RESIDENTS

“HUANG never discussed with FOWLER traveling overseas to obtain foreign contributions. However, HUANG discussed with FOWLER the idea of traveling overseas to locate contributors that were overseas that had green cards or were U.S. citizens.”

“HUANG had heard that HALEY BARBOUR (phonetic) of the REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE had obtained contributions by taking a similar trip overseas.”

“HUANG and FOWLER never discussed reimbursing people for contributions.”

THE MEDIA FUND

“During HUANG’s employment at the DOC, HUANG had a meeting with MARVIN ROSEN, GIROIR and MIDDLETON in MIDDLETON’s office next to the WILLARD HOTEL. Words might have been mentioned about the media fund at the meeting.”

“HUANG thought that LIU and REN were “showing off” that they had attended the event. HUANG did not approve of this but did not make a big deal about it with LIU and REN.”

“LIU and REN asked HUANG to let them know when the next event was going to take place. HUANG called them and informed them about a DNC event that took place on May 13, 1996.”

“HUANG asked LIU and REN additional questions regarding their backgrounds.”

“HUANG had an “inkling” that he needed to ask LIU and REN additional background questions before accepting any additional contributions from them.”

“HUANG was not sure why he had this feeling. It was possible that HUANG decided to make such extra inquiries because LIU and REN were being so public about their attendance at the DNC HAY-ADAMS HOTEL event.”

“HSIA was at the DNC HAY-ADAMS HOTEL event, and HSIA could not confirm LIU and REN’s green card status with HUANG. Perhaps, this was why HUANG felt the need to perform additional checks on LIU and REN’s background and green card status.”

“HUANG asked LIU and REN again whether or not they had green cards. LIU and REN told HUANG that they had alien registration numbers. HUANG may have had a conversation with LIU and REN’s bookkeeper, NANCY SUN, regarding the contributions but all of,the final answers regarding LIU and REN’s background and green card status came directly from LIU and REN.”

“HUANG told SULLIVAN first and then SANDLER when HUANG found out that LIU and REN did not have their green cards. When HUANG told SANDLER that the LIU and REN contribution checks needed to be returned, SANDLER said okay.”

“HUANG returned the contribution checks that had been received by the DNC from LIU and REN for the DNC HAY-ADAMS HOTEL event. NEIL REIFF was not involved with the return of the LIU and REN contribution checks.”

“HUANG had very little interaction with REIFF.”

“The checks were returned prior to the May 13, 1996, DNC event but subsequent to HUANG’s conversation with LIU and REN regarding the May 13, 1996, event.”

“HUANG saw LIU and REN at the HAY-ADAMS HOTEL around the time of but prior’to the May 13, 1996, DNC event. At that time, HUANG had already returned LIU and REN’s previous contributions to them.”

“However, LIU and REN still showed “eagerness” to go to the May 13, 1996, DNC event, which was held at the SHERATON CARLTON.”

“HUANG let LIU and REN attend the May 13, 1996, DNC event.”

“HUANG suggested to LIU and REN that they make a contribution to VOTE NOW ‘96. LIU and REN gave HUANG a check for a contribution to VOTE NOW ‘96 while at the SHERATON CARLTON HOTEL after the event.”

“LIUand REN’s daughter attended events with them but did not make contributions. LIU and REN wanted their daughter to attend because they thought that she could assist them with their English.”

JANE DEW TAHIR

“J. RIADY mentioned to HUANG that J. TAHIR had a green card and could contribute; therefore, HUANG invited J. TAHIR to the DNC HAY-ADAMS HOTEL event held February 19, 1996.”

“J. TAHIR could not attend the event because of an exam she had at school.”

“J. TAHIR attended the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKLEY (U.C. BERKLEY). GRACE TAHIR, J. TAHIR’s sister, VICTORIA (LNU) and an unknown male attended the event in place of J. TAHIR. VICTORIA may have been J. TAHIR’s cousin. HUANG did not make the decision of who or how many persons would attend in place of J. TAHIR.”

“HUANG did not think that J. TAHIR knew TRIE. It was possible that HUANG used TRIE’s phone to contact J. TAHIR”.

“J. TAHIR still made a contribution to the DNC for the HAY-ADAMS HOTEL event even though she was unable to attend.”

“G. TAHIR or VICTORIA gave HUANG J. TAHIR’s contribution check. HUANG understood that J. TAHIR’s father was very wealthy and thought that J. TAHIR would have money herself due to her family’s wealth. In HUANG’s mind, the money for the contribution was J. TAHIR’s.”

“HUANG did not explain EEC rules regarding conduit contributions or any other FEC rules to J. TAHIR.”

“HUANG did not ask J. TAHIR the source of the money for the contribution. It was important to MR. TAHIR, J. TAHIR’s father, for his daughters to attend good schools. HUANG introduced CHANCELLOR TIEN to MR. TAHIR. However, HUANG did not get J. TAHIR into U.C. BERKLEY.”

“HUANG also helped MR. TAHIR by offering his family a place to stay when in the Washington, D.C., area.”

“HUANG did not feel as if he had done much to help MR. TAHIR.”

“However, the evening before the DNC HAY-ADAMS HOTEL event, G. TAHIR gave HUANG a $10,000 check payable to HUANG personally. G. TAHIR told HUANG that the check was from MR. TAHIR. The check was a gesture of appreciation from MR. TAHIR to HUANG for all of HUANG’s help.”

“$10,000 was not a large amount of money for MR. TAHIR, who was very wealthy.”

“HUANG felt uncomfortable accepting the $10,000 check because he did not feel that he had helped MR. TAHIR a great deal. However, HUANG deposited the $10,000 check. The $10,000 check was absolutely not given to HUANG with the understanding that HUANG use it to make a contribution to the DNC.”

“HUANG viewed the $10,000 check as a gift to HUANG. HUANG mentioned the $10,000 check from MR. TAHIR to J. RIADY, and J. RIADY said that he already knew about the check.”

TRAINING AT THE DNC

“SANDLER reviewed the contribution checks HUANG had received from the DNC HAY-ADAMS HOTEL event with HUANG.”

“SULLIVAN called HUANG and told HUANG to review the checks with SANDLER. While reviewing the checks with SANDLER, SANDLER inquired about the checks received from the DAVIDSON WOO company, JIMSWOOD INTERNATIONAL INC. (JII).”

“HUANG told SANDLER that he did not have information about JII at the time but would check up on it. HUANG asked TRIE about JII.”

“TRIE told HUANG that JII was an American company with U.S. revenues.”

“HUANG never attended a special, one on one training session with SANDLER.”

“HUANG’s review of the DNC HAY-ADAMS HOTEL event checks with SANDLER was not a training session. The only FEC training session that HUANG attended was a general training session held by SANDLER.”

“There were some written materials regarding FEC rules that HUANG had at his desk at the DNC. Some of these materials were obtained by HUANG himself rather than being distributed to him.”

MISCELLANEOUS

“ROGER PAN was a wealthy businessman who owned hotels. HUANG had known R. PAN since 1988 and thought that R. PAN was a permanent resident of the U.S. with legal status to contribute. HUANG based his knowledge of R. PAN’s legal status on the fact that R. PAN “had been around for so long.”

“HUANG did not recall having a conversation with RAM EMMANUEL (phonetic) in the Fall of 1996 in the White House.”

“HILLARY CLINTON attended an eveht for GARY LOCKE FOR GOVERNOR. SAM CHEN told HUANG that CHEN shook hands with HILLARY CLINTON at the event and said, JOHN HUANG is in trouble, and he is my friend. HILLARY CLINTON replied that she was HUANG’s friend too.”

(<<<END<<<)

EXERPTS FROM: Sean Hannity, Alan Colmes, China Scandal Hannity & Colmes (Fox News Network), 08-03-1999. ….”

BURTON: Yeah. Well, let me just say that we have been so disappointed in this Justice Department and Janet Reno for the past two and a half to three years now because it’s evident to anyone who’s been closely involved in this that she’s blocking for the president. And to give a slap on the wrist to John Huang and Charlie Trie without forcing them to cooperate with the Congress and to work with us in our investigation is — it borders on obstruction of justice by the Justice Department!

HANNITY: That’s unbelievable! What...

BURTON: And so we’re very happy that the judges have seen fit to...

HANNITY: Well...

BURTON: ... postpone this.

HANNITY: And — and you were working very hard behind the scenes.

I’ve read your letters. I — but — and your letter to the Justice Department — you wrote some very harsh words. “Your refusal to work with Congress in this regard can only lead us to conclude that you are not interested in discovering the full truth behind the Democratic fund- raising activities of Huang and Charlie Trie,” and you go on — they provided Huang with a plea agreement, no prison time, minimal fine, and they’ll reinstitute his voting rights here.

It seems like they want a wash, a quid pro quo. They want to push this aside. They won’t let your committee do its job. They’re not facilitating the interviews that you have been requesting now for a long time! This is disgraceful, Congressman!

BURTON: She — she’s blocking very clearly for the president. And she’s been very effective at doing that. And to give these fellows a slap on the wrist like they’re doing, when they were conduits, I believe, and involved in bringing in not hundreds of thousands but millions of dollars into the president’s reelection committee and the Democrat National Committee I think borders on — on — it is criminal.

And — and I just feel very strongly that the Justice Department should be forced to cooperate, and I’m very thankful these judges are seeing fit to put a little pressure on.

COLMES: Congressman, you know, it’s not only the Justice Department. Certain prosecutors don’t want — for example, a U.S. assistant attorney, Daniel J. O’Brien (ph), says he opposes hauling Huang before your committee before sentencing for fear of what he’ s calling repeating the Oliver North episode, where there was immunity granted, then a lack of ability to prosecute after that.

BURTON: Uh-huh. Well, I think that’s a red herring. I think that they’re throwing up a smokescreen. The Justice Department knows that we have garnered more information through our investigation than they have because we’ve been working at it. We have bank records and other things that they don’t have. I’m not at liberty to go into the details right now. But I can tell you the Justice Department has not done a thorough investigation, in my opinion, on Charlie Trie or John Huang.

I believe on your program I talked about Charlie Trie when we — when they sent FBI agents and Justice people down to Little Rock to get documents that were being destroyed from Mrs. Mapelia (ph), who was Charlie Trie’s secretary.

HANNITY: Right.

BURTON: And Justice, when they found out about it, brought ‘em back.

HANNITY: We’ll take...

BURTON: So those documents could continue to be destroyed.

HANNITY: Unbelievable!

***

“Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel O’Brien does not suspect Huang of involvement in espionage and said that Huang was ``candid and truthful’ ‘ in his 20 sessions of interviews with government investigators. However, the government left open the possibility that he could be called as a witness in espionage investigations”

LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent, Former Democratic Fund-Raiser Fined. , AP Online, 08-13-1999.

***

“I have received reports from government sources that say there are electronic intercepts which provide evidence confirming that John Huang committed economic espionage and breached our national security by passing classified information to his former employer, the Lippo Group.”

House Rules Committee Chairman Gerald Solomon, June 11, 1997

***

“During the briefings, Huang reviewed and commented on raw intelligence reports about the PRC. Huang also signed receipts to retain finished intelligence products. The classified finished intelligence that Huang received during his tenure at Commerce included PRC economic and banking issues, technology transfer, political developments in the PRC, and the Chinese Communist Party leadership. Huang commented on or kept copies of materials on these topics.”

The Cox Report: John Huang, Classified U.S. Intelligence, and the PRC

***

One area of interest I have involves Huang’s knowledge of Ron Brown’s associations with James Riady and China Resouces while Huang was at the Commerce Department. Huang met with PRC officials in Washington on 9 occasions around the time of the deals between Lippo and Giroir and China Resources....Here is an exerpt from the Cox report that documents these meetings..

Huang maintained contact with representatives of the Lippo Group while he was at the Department of Commerce. During the 18 months that he was at Commerce, Huang called Lippo Bank 232 times, in addition to 29 calls or faxes to Lippo Headquarters in Indonesia. Huang also contacted Lippo consultant Maeley Tom on 61 occasions during the same period. Huang’s records show 72 calls to Lippo joint venture partner C. Joseph Giroir.266

During his tenure at the Commerce Department, Huang used a visitor’s office across the street at the Washington, D.C. branch of Stephens Inc., an Arkansas-based brokerage firm with “significant business ties to the Lippo Group.” 267 Stephens employees indicated that these visits were short in duration.268 Huang used this office “two, three times a week” most weeks, making telephone calls and “regularly” receiving faxes and packages addressed to him.269

No one at the Commerce Department, including Huang’s secretary, knew of this additional office.270

Huang met with PRC Embassy officials in Washington, D.C. on at least nine occasions. Six of these meetings were at the PRC Embassy.271 When informed of these contacts, Jeffrey Garten, the Department of Commerce Under Secretary for Trade Administration, was “taken aback” to learn that Huang ever dealt with anyone at the PRC Embassy.272 The purpose of the contacts is unknown.

Volume 2 Freeper ohmlaw98 “….

Published accounts of associations with Mochtar and James Riady (Lippo), Shen Jueren (China Resources), Pauline Kanchanalak, Webster Hubble, and other individuals involved in illegal campaign financing activities.

-Direct exerpts from published articles and transcripts-

All exerpts are referenced and appended with source and publish date

Emphasis has been added to certain names and events.

House Rules Committee Chairman Gerald Solomon, June 11, 1997

The Cox Report: John Huang, Classified U.S. Intelligence, and the PRC

In late 1993, the U.S. Department of Commerce hired John Huang as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for International Economic Policy.248

Prior to starting at the Department of Commerce, Huang had been the Lippo Group’s principal executive in the United States. Lippo’s principal partner in the PRC is China Resources (Holdings) Co., a PRC-owned corporation based in Hong Kong.249

According to Nicholas Eftimiades, a Defense Intelligence Agency analyst writing in his personal capacity, and Thomas R. Hampson, an investigator hired by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, China Resources is “an agent of espionage, economic, military, and political.” 250

China Resources is also one of several PRC companies (including China Aerospace Corporation) that share a controlling interest in Asia Pacific Mobile Telecommunications Satellite Co., Ltd (APMT).251 The PRC-controlled APMT is preparing to use China Great Wall Industry Corporation to launch a constellation of Hughes satellites on PRC rockets.252 The launches scheduled to date have required Commerce Department approval and presidential waivers of the Tiananmen Square sanctions.253

While at the Department of Commerce, Huang was provided with a wealth of classified material pertaining to the PRC, Taiwan, and other parts of Asia. He had a Top Secret clearance, but declined suggestions by his superiors that he increase that clearance to the Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) level (the level held by his predecessor).254

Between October 1994 and November 1995, Huang received 37 briefings from a representative of the Office of Intelligence Liaison at the Department of Commerce.255 While Huang’s predecessor was briefed weekly, Huang received approximately 2.5 briefings per month.256

The vast majority of Huang’s briefings focused on the PRC and Taiwan, including “raw intelligence” that disclosed the sources and methods of collection used by the U.S. intelligence community.257 The Office of Intelligence Liaison representatives indicated that Huang was not permitted to keep or take notes on raw intelligence reports and did not ask many questions or otherwise aggressively seek to expand the scope of his briefings.258

During the briefings, Huang reviewed and commented on raw intelligence reports about the PRC. Huang also signed receipts to retain finished intelligence products. The classified finished intelligence that Huang received during his tenure at Commerce included PRC economic and banking issues, technology transfer, political developments in the PRC, and the Chinese Communist Party leadership. Huang commented on or kept copies of materials on these topics.

Huang was also given access by the Office of Intelligence Liaison to diplomatic cables classified at the Confidential or Secret level.259 Specifically, 25 to 100 classified cables were set aside for Huang each day.260

No record exists as to the substance of the cables that were reviewed by Huang.261 Huang could have upgraded the level of the cable traffic made available to him to include Top Secret information, but never did so.262

Huang also had access to the intelligence reading room at the Commerce Department, as well as to classified materials sent to his supervisor, Charles Meissner,263 who had a higher level clearance.264 The three Office of Intelligence Liaison representatives who were interviewed by the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs indicated that they were not personally aware of any instance in which Huang mishandled or divulged classified information.265

“The vast majority of Huang’s briefings focused on the PRC and Taiwan, including “raw intelligence” that disclosed the sources and methods of collection used by the U.S. intelligence community. The Office of Intelligence Liaison representatives indicated that Huang was not permitted to keep or take notes on raw intelligence reports and did not ask many questions or otherwise aggressively seek to expand the scope of his briefings....”

The Cox Report: John Huang, Classified U.S. Intelligence, and the PRC

No one at the Commerce Department, including Huang’s secretary, knew of this additional office.270

On December 1, 1998, the Select Committee served Huang with a subpoena through his attorney. On December 3, 1998, Huang’s attorney indicated that Huang would only testify before the Select Committee pursuant to a grant of immunity.273 The Select Committee declined to immunize Huang from prosecution, and Huang refused to appear before the Select Committee, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights.

Exerpts from: Publications of the Center for Security Policy No. 96-D 109 (emphasis added by original author) Enter John Huang

Recent disclosures about John Huang — the Chinese-born former Taiwanese fighter pilot, Indonesian businessman and Democratic fundraiser who served as a Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Economic Policy in the Bill Clinton/Ron Brown Commerce Department — offer disturbing insights into how such vulnerabilities might have been exploited. Consider the following known facts:

* Prior to joining the Commerce Department, Mr. Huang was an employee of the Indonesia-based Lippo Group and several of its subsidiary companies and banks.

* One of Lippo’s enterprises is the Hong Kong Chinese Bank, Ltd. Mr. Huang’s biography indicates that he was the bank’s Vice President for International Banking between March 1985 and September 1986.

The Chinese Connection

* On 7 November 1992, four days after Bill Clinton’s election in 1992, the Lippo Group sold 15% of its interest in the Hong Kong Chinese Bank to China Resources (Holdings) Company Ltd. — the commercial arm of Communist China’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation. China Resources is used by Beijing to control its investments and trade abroad. It has been called one of the PRC’s largest and most influential enterprises in Hong Kong.

* The Hong Kong Chinese Bank transaction was reportedly structured in such a way as to avoid the requirement to obtain approval from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. On 17 July 1993, China Resources increased its holdings from 15% to 50% — paying a 50% premium over the net asset value and realizing a cool $164.8 million profit for Mr. Huang’s employer at the time, Mochtar Riady, chairman of Lippo Group.

* As noted by William Safire in his 28 October column in the New York Times, China Resources also has another important function: providing a cover for Chinese espionage. In 1994, Nicholas Eftimiades, a former naval and State Department intelligence officer now employed as a Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, authored a book entitled Chinese Intelligence Operations. In it, Mr. Eftimiades wrote:

“[Chinese intelligence] case officers make extensive use of commercial covers. For example, a vice president of the China Resources (Holdings) Company Hua Ren Jituan in Hong Kong is traditionally a military case officer from Guangzhou. This officer coordinates the collection activities of other intelligence personnel operating under Hua Ren cover.”

* Mr. Safire calls attention to an alarming op.ed. article that appeared in the Toronto Globe and Mail on 5 September 1995. Entitled “Beware the Threat of Chinese Spy Games” and authored by David Harris, a former chief of strategic planning with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, this article describes the multifaceted effort being made by Chinese agents to: divert Western high technology, acquire other militarily relevant and commercial secrets, cultivate agents of influence and coerce overseas Chinese students to serve as “sleeper agents.”

While aimed at a Canadian audience, the following excerpt from the Harris op.ed. just as easily applies to the United States— and is of particular interest in the present context:

“In dealings with Chinese officials, Canadians should understand that PRC diplomatic, cultural and intelligence activity is a seamless web....Canadians of Chinese ancestry must be warned of the PRC’s strong preference for recruiting ethnic Chinese using leverage and ‘help China’ appeals. China’s use of guanxi networks — social relationships built on favors — is the bedrock of Chinese intelligence collection. The approach reflects [Beijing’s] tendency to rely on a great many sources, each collecting small — and not very incriminating — amounts of information.”

* Mr. Harris also makes a point of spotlighting China Resources (Holdings) Company as a front for Chinese intelligence. “U.S. intelligence even says Hong Kong’s China Resources Holding Company traditionally reserves one vice-presidential position for a Military Intelligence Department (MID) intelligence officer.” Mr. Harris has described the China Resources involvement with the Hong Kong Chinese Bank as a “textbook Communist Chinese influence operation.”

What Background Check?

* Given U.S. intelligence’s knowledge of the nature and activities of China Resources, one would have thought that a Commerce Department request to grant a Top Secret security clearance to an ethnic Chinese who, although a naturalized American citizen, was formerly employed by organization in partnership with China Resources (Holdings) Company would have triggered red flags. In fact, it appears that no foreign background check was conducted on Mr. Huang at all before he was issued an “interim Top Secret clearance.”(2)

* Instead, on 31 January 1994, Mr. Huang received a “waiver of background investigation prior to appointment” from the Commerce Department’s security office. This was done on the grounds that “there was a critical need for his expertise in the new [sic] Administration for Secretary Brown.”

* Although “final clearance” was “held in abeyance pending the results of Huang’s background investigation,” according to congressional experts, it appears that no overseas checks were ever conducted of Mr. Huang’s extensive international travel, his extended stays abroad, his family overseas or his foreign employers either during the five-months between his waiver and his first day on the job (18 July 1994) or in the subsequent three months until his final clearance was adjudicated (18 October 1994).

Business As Usual in the Clinton Administration?

* The Washington Times on 31 October 1996 quoted Commerce spokeswoman Anne Luzzatto as saying that a “foreign background check was not required under security rules because Mr. Huang did not reside abroad in the previous five years before he took the Commerce Department position.” This appears to be inconsistent with a 1991 directive signed by then-President George Bush requiring foreign background checks on anyone who has lived overseas within the previous ten years — which Mr. Huang certainly did. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX), has written the late Secretary Brown’s successor, Mickey Kantor, saying “[The approach taken to streamline Mr. Huang’s clearance] was contrary to standard procedures.” (Emphasis added.)

* Commerce and Office of Personnel Management representatives nonetheless told the Baltimore Sun on 30 October 1996 that Mr. Huang’s “background investigation was as thorough as it was required to be.” The Sun said Ms. Luzzatto claimed “investigators were able to gain the needed information without interviews overseas.”

* David Harris, however, has described the placement of a person with Mr. Huang’s background in a position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce without an FBI security clearance as “horrendous” and something that “sends shudders through any intelligence officer’s body.”

* Interestingly, according to the 31 October Wall Street Journal, the Commerce spokeswoman also averred that “Mr. Huang couldn’t have used his security clearance before he officially joined the agency as a top international trade policy official in July 1994.” (Emphasis added.) In view of the “critical need” Secretary Brown apparently had for Mr. Huang’s expertise, it stands to reason that he may have been involved in meetings, conversations, briefings, etc. in which he was exposed to classified information while still on the Lippo Group’s payroll.

* There is no dispute, however, that Mr. Huang was exposed to highly sensitive intelligence data and competition sensitive trade information once he collected his $900,000 severance package from Lippo and joined the Commerce Department, becoming what Mr. Riady called “my man in the Clinton Administration.”

‘High Crimes and Misdemeanors’? The Huang Caper Reinforces Concerns about Clinton Malfeasance on Security Matters, Publications of the Center for Security Policy, No. 96-D 109

The Riady Family and John Huang:

Access and Influence with the Clinton White House

JOHN HUANG SENT A LETTER TO THE OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT THANKING HIM FOR MEETING IN THE WHITE HOUSE WITH SHEN JUEREN, THE CHAIRMAN OF CHINA RESOURCES AND PARTNER WITH LIPPO. CHINA RESOURCES IS A PRC ENTITY WIDELY REPORTED TO SERVE AS A FRONT FOR CHINESE INTELLIGENCE SERVICES:

* Huang and Mochtar Riady requested that Commerce Secretary Brown meet with Shen Jueren, Chairman of China Resources and a major partner of the Lippo Group. In late 1992, China Resources purchased fifteen percent of the Lippo owned Hong Kong Chinese Bank. China Resources subsequently infused the failing LippoLand with tens of millions of dollars, effectively bailing the Riady family out of a precarious financial situation. Since 1993, the Lippo Group and China Resources entered into dozens of joint venture projects in the People’s Republic of China.

At the time the meetings for Shen Jueren were requested, China Resources was becoming one of Lippo’s most important partners. During the same visit to the United States, Huang and Riady also organized a meeting between Vice President Gore and Shen Jueren as well. Huang wrote to Vice President Gore’s then-Chief of Staff Jack Quinn, thanking Quinn for meeting with Shen Jueren and noting a meeting between him and Gore. Quinn had no recollection of ever meeting Shen Jueren, nor did he recall the letter from Huang.

www.house.gov/reform/reports/fundraising

A SENATE COMMITTEE CONCLUDED THAT GORE’S MEETING WITH SHEN JUEREN WAS LINKED TO ILLEGAL DONATIONS PRODUCED BY HSIA AND HUANG .

* The report establishes that Gore built a fund-raising relationship with Hsia and Huang as early as 1988. The report concludes that the two Democratic fund-raisers were involved in the illegal laundering of campaign donations in 1993 and that their activities were focused on helping Gore. That year, according to the report, Hsia and Huang helped arrange two meetings between the vice president and the head of a company that has links with the intelligence apparatus of the People’s Republic of China. According to the report, in September 1993, Huang laundered three $15,000 contributions to the DNC through overseas bank accounts controlled by the Lippo Group, an Indonesian conglomerate. Huang once worked for Lippo’s U.S. affiliate. Also in September 1993, Hsia arranged a $5,000 contribution from three Buddhist nuns who were later reimbursed for the donation. Federal election laws prohibit making campaign contributions on behalf of someone else.

The report contends that these donations were linked to two meetings the Democratic fund-raisers helped arrange between Gore and a Chinese businessman, Shen Jueren, the same month. Shen was head of China Resources, which, the report says, citing unclassified sources, is linked to the “PRC’s intelligence apparatus.” “Such a connection to the People’s Republic of China,” the report continues, “would help explain the interest Huang and Hsia showed in introducing” the head of China Resources to Gore. Hsia declined to cooperate with the Senate investigation and cited her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

Senate report details alleged DNC wrongdoing // The GOP draft attacks Vice President Al Gore, but lacks information on China’s alleged efforts to influence U.S. elections.. , Minneapolis Star Tribune, 02-08-1998, pp 18A.

MARIA HSIA HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED BY GOVERNMENT SOURCES AS AN AGENT FOR THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT.

A report by Senate Republican investigators, based on classified information provided by the FBI and CIA, said that the Governmental Affairs Committee “has learned that Hsia has been an agent of the Chinese government” and “acted knowingly in support of it.”

“Democratic fund-raiser Maria Hsia is indicted”, Minneapolis Star Tribune, 02-19-1998, pp 04A.

* ....belatedly discovered files indicate that Maria Hsia, a Taiwanese-American immigrant who for a decade has raised money for Democratic causes, was “doing the bidding” of Beijing as a Chinese agent, a senior official said.

Hsia, 46, set up an Asian-American fund-raising group called the Pacific Leadership Council (PLC) with Riady and John Huang, later a fund-raiser for the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The two largest recipients of PLC money in the 1990 election cycle were then-Sens. Al Gore, D-Tenn., and Paul Simon, D-Ill.

(Bob Woodward, Campaign finance // An FBI oversight adds fuel to the fire // Investigators

think newly discovered files show further Chinese efforts to influence U.S. elections.. , Minneapolis Star Tribune, 11-15-1997, pp 13A.

THE FBI CLASSIFIED NEWLY DISCOVERED EVIDENCE DETAILING HSIA’S ASSOCIATION WITH THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT AS “VOLUMINOUS”:

* The Hsia evidence came to light only after Freeh canvassed all FBI field offices in September and ordered a “meticulous review of all file holdings in the FBI’s possession that bear on attempts by the {People’s Republic of China} to influence U.S. political elections.” ......the FBI issued a statement saying that the files are “voluminous,” consisting of “raw, uncorroborated intelligence that requires significant analysis before the information is appropriate for dissemination.” Freeh’s directive also produced intelligence that the Chinese government planned to use joint business ventures with U.S. companies and others to raise money that could be funneled into U.S. campaigns. Other newly uncovered reports also suggest that the Chinese government planned to spend more than the previously reported $3 million to influence U.S. campaigns, according to U.S. officials. Fragmentary intelligence also indicated that the Chinese wanted to funnel money directly to the Clinton-Gore campaign, they said. (Bob Woodward, Campaign finance // An FBI oversight adds fuel to the fire // Investigators think newly discovered files show further Chinese efforts to influence U.S. elections.. , Minneapolis Star Tribune, 11-15-1997, pp 13A.)

THE FBI ALSO UNVEILED INTELLIGENCE THAT REVEALED A CLAIM BY SOURCES INSIDE CHINA THAT THEY HELPED TO THWART THE SENATE INQUIRY:

But after Thompson announced two weeks ago that he was suspending his public hearings, officials said, the FBI obtained intelligence showing that the Chinese equivalent of the CIA boasted that it had been successful in “thwarting” the congressional inquiry.

Bob Woodward, Campaign finance // An FBI oversight adds fuel to the fire // Investigators think newly discovered files show further Chinese efforts to influence U.S. elections.. , Minneapolis Star Tribune, 11-15-1997, pp 13A.

John Huang and Pauline Kanchanalak

The events summarized below were obtained from published reports and articles documenting past and present government investigations of Pauline Kanchanalak.

(Sources with links are listed in the appendix.)

* Pauline Kanchanalak is 48 years old and a Thai citizen.

* Kanchanalak was closely associated with John Huang. John Huang was closely associated with the Riadys. She visited the White House at least 26 times, seeing Mr. Clinton at least 10 times, according to security records disclosed by the Clinton administration. Records also show that Mrs. Kanchanalak had met with Vice President Al Gore at least twice. At least once, she was part of a delegation that went to the White House with the deputy prime minister of Thailand.

* In November of 1994, President Clinton traveled to Indonesia with a U.S. delegation for the APEC conference in Jakarta. Kanchanalak was with Clinton and Suharto at the Conference. Also attending were Webb Hubbell, Bruce Lindsey, Mochtar and James Riady, Charlie Trie, and Gene and Nora Lum.

* Kanchanalak was the head of the U.S. Thai Business Council in 1994. On September 30, 1994 John Huang wrote a memo to David Rothkopf, Deputy Undersecretary for International Economic Policy, urging that President Clinton host the U.S. Thai Business Council inaugural at the White House. Seven days later, on October 6, 1994, the U.S. Thai Business Council inaugural was held at the White House, attended by President Clinton and the Thai Prime Minister. Kanchanalak contributed $32,500 to the DNC immediately following the event

* Pauline Kanchanalak organized a WH coffee with John Huang and a group of Thai businessmen in June of 1996. Kanchanalak and her sister in law, Duangnet G. Kronenberg wrote checks of $135, 000 to the DNC for this event. The Kanchanalak associates attending the coffees included executives of Charoen Pokaphand Group, a Thailand-based conglomerate that is one of Asia’ s largest and most successful business empires. The group is believed to be the largest foreign investor in China. An article in The Financial Times estimated that Dhanin Chearavanont, the chairman of the C.P. Group, is the 12th-richest man in Asia. The coffee also was attended by DNC Chairman Donald Fowler, Finance Chairman Marvin Rosen and John Huang. According to Federal Election Commission records, the day after the coffee, Mrs. Kanchanalak gave $85,000 to the DNC. She followed that with another $50,000 in July. Duangnet Kronenberg contributed $50,000. DNC records list Mr. Kronenberg as working for Ban Chang Group, a Thai conglomerate. Kanchanalak was an employee.

* The White House recommended Kanchanalak for a trade-policy advisory committee.

* Ms Kanchanalak, who also posed as the Washington correspondent of the Bangkok Post since the mid- 80s, fled to Thailand when news of the investigations surfaced. She returned in July of 1998 after a deal was reached between her lawyer and Justice Dept. prosecutors. Kanchanalak is still listed on Burton’s “Pled or Fled” list for her refusal to cooperate with government investigators.

* She was released on $250,000 bail. U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman in Washington also ordered Pauline Kanchanalak to turn over her passport and notify the court before traveling outside the Washington area.

* Ms. Kanchanalak is represented by Charlie Trie’s attorney, Reid Weingarten. Weingarten also represented Ron Brown before his death. She has also been represented by Erik Kitchen.

* In November of 1996, The DNC returned $253,500 of the illegal contributions received from Kanchanalak.

* At the Hay-Adams Hotel fundraiser for Clinton/Gore in February of 1996, Kanchanalak, Charlie Trie, Ng Lap Seng and Ted Sioeng sat at the Head table with Clinton.

* Kanchanalak was the head of the U.S. Thai Business Council in 1994. It had about 35 members, mostly large U.S. corporations with Thai interests. John Huang wrote a memo to David Rothkopf, Deputy Undersecretary for International Economic Policy, urging that President Clinton host the U.S. Thai Business Council inaugural at the White House. Seven days later, on October 6, 1994, the U.S. Thai Business Council inaugural was held at the White House, attended by President Clinton and the Thai Prime Minister. Kanchanalak contributed $32,500 to the DNC immediately following the event The FBI took all the papers and records of the U.S.-Thai Business Council in March of 1997.

* The New York Times reported in January of 1997 that Maria Haley, a longtime associate of Bill Clinton who works at the Export-Import Bank, lobbied for a $6.5 million financing deal on behalf of Kanchanalak. The deal did not go through but 200,000 in contributions to the DNC was linked to this deal. John Huang helped raise the money. The contributions were deemed illegal and returned by the DNC in Nov. 1996 after news of the illegal campaign financing surfaced.. The contributions were listed in Kanchanalak’s relatives names.

* District Judge Paul L. Friedman threw out 11 counts in January of this year. The ruling only left seven of the original 24 counts. Prosecutors had dropped six charges against Mrs. Kanchanalak last fall after the judge raised legal concerns about those counts. Judge Friedman as mentioned above, also threw out much of the Justice Department’s cases against Charlie Trie and Maria Hsia. Mrs. Kanchanalak was indicted last summer on charges of illegally channeling $659,000 to the Democratic Party. In the rulings, Judge Friedman found that citizens of foreign countries are only forbidden to make donations that directly support individual candidates. Friedman is the former assistant to Lawrence Walsh during the Iran Contra investigation and has been a nemesis for Matt Drudge in his work related to the Sidney Blumenthal lawsuit. Friedman was appointed to the bench by Clinton.

A federal judge yesterday threw out much of the government’s case against Thai businesswoman Pauline Kanchanalak, delivering the latest in a series of legal blows to Attorney General Janet Reno’s campaign finance investigation.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman followed earlier decisions that gutted much of the prosecution’s cases against Yah Lin “Charlie” Trie and Maria Hsia, two other key figures in the Justice Department’s investigation into foreign contributions to the Clinton-Gore reelection effort.

Friedman earlier dismissed similar charges concerning FEC statements in the cases against Hsia and Trie. He threw out five of six charges lodged against Hsia and three of 14 charges filed against Trie. Other rulings by the judge have created stumbling blocks for campaign finance prosecutors, including one last fall that held that citizens of foreign nations are prohibited only from making “hard money” contributions, or donations that directly support individual candidates for federal office. That ruling led prosecutors to act on their own to drop six charges against Kanchanalak and Kronenberg; only $80,000 of the money they allegedly provided was for “hard money” purposes.

Judge Tosses 11 Campaign Charges By Bill Miller Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, January 1, 1999; Page A20

Clinton, Hubbell, Huang and Riady

A Timeline of Events Surrounding the Hubbell Resignation..

(Events documented were obtained from published reports of Congressional investigations.)

www.house.gov/reform/reports/fundraising

April 1993

White House records of meetings with the President indicate that there was a meeting with James Riady during this month.

April 13, 1993

Records indicate a meeting between James Riady and Bill Clinton at the White House and a post meeting photo-op. A phone message slip to Webster Hubbell from James Riady read: “Mr. Riady is at the OEOB. Please call.”

July 2, 1993

President Clinton approved the blanket waiver granting Motorola the authority to launch up to 12 Iridium satellites on China missiles.

August 27th, 1993

A memo to John Emerson from David Wilhelm regarding Asian Pacific American administration appointments had attached to it a list of Asian Pacific Americans who were interested in being considered for positions within the administration. John Huang’s name is on the list and references his role as a DNC trustee and major fundraiser. It also indicates that Huang, “needs extra push for Deputy Assistant Secretary position for the East Asia and Pacific.”

September 23, 1993

Hip Hing Holdings Inc.,owned and controlled by James Riady and managed by John Huang, contributes $15,000 made payable to the DNC. John Huang’s signature, as well of that of Hip Hing’s Comptroller, Agus Setiawan, appeared on the check. In 1993, Hip Hing Holdings reported losings of $493,809.93. (In order for the subsidiary of a foreign corporation to make legal political contributions, the funds must be derived from U.S.profits).

Another Riady company, Toy Center Holdings, Inc., contributes $15,000 to the DNC. In 1993, Toy Center Holdings lost $26,886.67.

September 27, 1993

San Jose Holdings Inc.,another company owned and controlled by the Riady Family, contributed a $15,000 check written on the San Jose Holdings account and made payable to the “DNC”. In 1993, San Jose Holdings lost $65,177.32.

October 7, 1993

John Huang sent a letter to the Office of the Vice President, thanking the Vice President’s Chief of Staff, Jack Quinn, for meeting in the White House with Shen Jueren, the Chairman of China Resources. China Resources is a PRC-owned entity widely reported to serve as a front for Chinese intelligence services. China Resources is also an important Lippo partner. Although not confirmed, It is believed that Vice President Gore met with Shen Jueren in the White House and also exchanged words with him at a subsequent DNC event.

October 18, l993

In a memo for Bruce Lindsey from Gary Christopherson, Associate Director of Presidential Personnel, It is acknowledged that John Huang was being appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asia and Pacific International Trade Administration at the Commerce Department.

-End 1993 - Begin 1994-

January 27, 1994

John Huang is granted an “interim” top secret clearance. At the time, Huang was still Vice Chairman of the Riady owned Lippo Bank, and he would remain at Lippo until July 1994. Huang received the interim clearance based on a records check alone and no interviews or other investigation of his background.

March 13, 1994

Members of the Clintons’ inner circle gathered at the executive mansion to discuss a wave of unsettling Whitewater developments: On hand for the meeting were the president; Hillary Clinton; McLarty, then White House chief of staff; Margaret Williams, Hillary Clinton’s top aide; Deputy White House Counsel Bruce Lindsey; and David E. Kendall, the outside lawyer for the Clintons. Toward the end of the meeting, McLarty informed those present that Webster Hubbell would resign, probably the next day. Based on McLarty’s recollection, he then told Hillary Clinton, out of earshot of others, that he would seek to help Hubbell financially. The first lady, according to McLarty, nodded her approval.

March 14, 1994

Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell announced his resignation following damaging disclosures concerning his Rose Law Firm billing practices.

March 19, 1994

The criminal charges against Webb Hubbell are filed.

April, 1994

Joe Giroir, who helped hire Hillary Clinton at the Rose Law Firm, used his Arkansas contacts to set up a meeting in Arkansas for prospective Chinese partners with Lippo in a huge China power-plant project. Attending was John Huang, then head of Lippo’s U.S. operations who wanted a regular role for himself in the Clinton Administration, and it is believed that Giroir pulled strings to get Huang hired in July 1994 as a Commerce Department deputy assistant secretary, a job that gave him access to classified economic data from Asian countries where Lippo has a big stake. At Commerce, Huang stayed in regular contact with Giroir, as well as Lippo, and frequented the Washington office of a company that Giroir represented, using its phones and a fax machine for what investigators suspect were transmissions of secret material to Lippo. Giroir knew the Riadys and was formerly a board member of Worthen National Bank, which they owned jointly with the investment firm Stephens Inc.

U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry sat down with his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Ding Henggao of the People’s Liberation Army. Together, Perry and Ding hammered out a series of agreements for U.S. technology transfers to China which were approved by President Clinton. In 1994, Ding served not only as a three-star general in the Chinese Army but also as director of China’s Commission of Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense or “COSTIND.” COSTIND owns Wang Jun’s company Poly Technologies Corp. Poly Technologies also is backed by the Lippo Group and Bill Clinton’s Indonesian billionaire friends — the Riadys.

Vernon Jordan arranged employment for Webster Hubbell with billionaire financier Ronald Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings. Hubbell was paid more than $60,000 for this contract.

April 8, 1994

Webster Hubbell leaves the Justice Department. A few days later, Chief of Staff McLarty called Truman Arnold, a Texas oilman and friend of Bill Clinton. Arnold hired Hubbell. According to testimony, McLarty also asked Vernon Jordan to assist Hubbell. Erskine Bowles took time off from his work at the SBA to personally escort Hubbell to the offices of a Washington investment executive, and also introduced Hubbell to two North Carolina lawyers, but these efforts failed. Mickey Kantor helped Hubbell’s son find work with the Federal National Mortgage Association.

May 6, 1994

A Hong Kong-based company named Lucky Port Investments, Limited, wired $100,000 to an account maintained by Trie and his wife at First Commercial Bank in Little Rock. The Riady ownde LippoBank Los Angeles served as an intermediary for the transaction. Prior to receipt of the $100,000 from Lucky Port, the balance in Trie’s First Commercial account was only $3,759. Lippo Group executive and Trie business associate Antonio Pan served as a director of the company at the time that the wire transfer was made.

June 7, 1994

John Huang was formally notified of his appointment as a mid-level trade official, according to Commerce Department records.

June 21, 1994

James Riady attended a large business reception with President Clinton at the White House. That was just one of 25 visits that Riady made to the White House since Clinton was elected, records showed.

June 23, 1994

Webster Hubbell has breakfast and lunch with James Riady. That same month, a Lippo subsidiary paid Hubbell $100,000. Little work, if any, was expected from Hubbell in return for the money, according to a source familiar with some of Lippo’s activities.

John Huang attended aWhite House meeting with James Riady and Mark Grobmyer, a Little Rock lawyer who has tried to put together several international trade deals, including some with Lippo. It is believed but not confirmed that they met with Clinton. This meeting was sandwiched in between Riady’s breakfast and lunch with Hubbell.

July 1994

In a separate affidavit given to Judicial Watch, Commerce aide Robert Atkins said political documents bearing the logo “Democratic National Committee” and “The Executive Office of the President” were regularly shredded at Commerce. Atkins worked as an international trade specialist at Commerce from July 1985 until February 1994. “This amount of shredding exceeded that in 1992 (during the Bush administration’s last year), so much so that the shredder was repeatedly broken,” Atkins said in the affidavit, a copy of which was obtained by USA TODAY.

July 18, 1994

Webster Hubbell has a meeting with the President Clinton at Camp David.

John Huang joined the Department of Commerce as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS) for International Economic Policy although Commerce Department officials concluded that Huang lacked the professional qualifications to handle substantive trade and export policy, and understood Huang’s responsibilities would be confined to administrative matters. (While at Commerce, Huang was very nearly an invisible man. In his eighteen months as PDAS-IEP, he left virtually no mark. Indeed, in interviews and depositions conducted by the Committee, many of Huang’s subordinates, colleagues, and supervisors were at a loss to explain what occupied his time, apart from routine bureaucratic meetings and some light administrative work.)for example, Garten had misgivings about Huang. “I was uncomfortable with Huang, because one doesn’t have a lot of time in these situations, but my instinct, as someone who had lived and worked in Asia, was that he wasn’t the kind of person who ought to represent the American government.”

July 25, 1994

Four months after Webster Hubbell announced his resignation, he left a phone message for Bruce Lindsey, Clinton’s deputy White House counsel, urging him to attend a dinner party gathering for a group of major campaign contributors with Truman Arnold, an oil executive based in Texarkana, Texas. Both Lindsey and Clinton attended the dinner party, according to people who were present. Hubbell did not.

July 26, 1994

Bank records reveal A $100,000 wire transfer from an account maintained at the Bank of China, Macau branch, by Ng Lap Seng to Daihatsu International Trading Corp.’s account at First Commercial Bank in Little Rock. The balance in Daihatsu’s account at the time it received the wire transfer was only $472. One day after Ng wired the money to Daihatsu, Wang Mei Trie wrote a $25,500 check on Daihatsu’s account to Yah Lin “Charlie” Trie. Before the deposit of the $25,500 check, the balance in Trie’s account was only $414.

August 1994

The U.S. endorsement of the plan to build a joint U.S.-Chinese power plant in northern China was announced by Commerce Secretary Ron Brown at a trade mission in Beijing. The project was later shelved.

Theodore O. Stein, former top aide to Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and now a candidate for Los Angeles city attorney, hired the disgraced former Justice Department official Webster Hubbell on an $8,500-a-month, no-bid contract to lobby federal transportation officials for the city.

August 5, 1994

Kenneth Starr was appointed Whitewater independent counsel by a 3 judge panel.

August 27-September 3, 1994

Loral chief Bernard Schwartz accompanied Commerce Secretary Ron Brown on a trade mission to China. Schwartz briefed Brown on Loral military products in preparation for that trade trip, seeking Brown’s support for selling the Chinese electronic countermeasures gear made by Loral for the Navy’s top-line F-18 fighter. He also sought to sell the Chinese airborne military reconnaissance cameras, missile guidance systems, laser designation pods, and shipboard weapons systems. Records from the trip obtained by congressional investigators show that Schwartz met with top officials at China Aerospace Corporation, and with the deputy chairman of the Commission of Science, Technology & Industry for National Defense (COSTIND), China’s top military procurement board. It is against the law to discuss U.S. military products without first obtaining a State Department marketing license. Schwartz and Loral refused to respond to repeated queries on this and related issues.

August 18, 1994

Kenneth Wynn, President of a Riady owned Lippo subsidiary, LippoLand, and his wife, contributed a total of $15,000 to the DNC. “Jane Huang” was listed as the solicitor of these contributions.

September 1994

Charlie Trie opened a branch office of Daihatsu in Washington, D.C., in a leased residential cooperative apartment at the Watergate.. He used his Watergate venue to host delegations of visiting Chinese businessmen who gathered for receptions and parties with Trie’s local friends and political contacts. Ng Lap Seng, Ng’s bookkeeper Keshi Zhan, and former Riady/Lippo Group executive and Trie business associate Antonio Pan also used the Watergate Office while in Washington.

September 20, 1994

White House adviser and fund-raiser Harold Ickes, in a memo, informed Clinton of a $3 million shortfall in the DNC coffers. Ickes urged Clinton to personally tap Schwartz, Vernon Jordan, and Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller “in order to raise an additional $3,000,000 to permit the Democratic National Committee to produce and air generic TV/radio spots as soon as Congress adjourns.”.... “Mr. Schwartz is prepared to do anything he can for the Administration,” Ickes noted. Over the next twelve months, the Loral chief personally contributed $240,000 to the DNC.

September 30, 1994

John Huang wrote a memo to David Rothkopf, Deputy Undersecretary for International Economic Policy, urging that President Clinton host the U.S. Thai Business Council inaugural at the White House. Seven days later, on October 6, 1994, the U.S. Thai Business Council inaugural was held at the White House, attended by President Clinton and Thai Prime Minister. Later that month, Huang attended a U.S. Thai Business Council meeting. Two days following that meeting, Pauline Kanchanalak, then head of the U.S. Thai Business Council, contributed $32,500 to the DNC.

October 5, 1994

At 9:00 a.m., John Huang receives an intelligence briefing from John Dickerson (CIA). At 5:49 p.m. on the same day, a fax was sent from Stephens D.C. (Huang’s office across the street from his Commerce Dept. office) to Riady owned Lippo Ltd. in Hong Kong. At 4:20 p.m. the next day, a fax was sent from Stephens D.C. to the Director of Lippo Bank in Indonesia.

November 1994

President Clinton travels to Indonesia with a U.S. delegation. Webster Hubbell and Bruce Lindsey were prominent members of the delegation. They meet twice with Mochtar and James Riady.

China’s Vice Premier Li Lanquing and a delegation visited Arkansas to discuss China’s trade and investment policies with Arkansas companies. The delegation, accompanied by Joe Giroir and representatives of Riady/Lippo, Tyson and Wal-Mart, toured company sights in northwest Arkansas.

December 6, 1994

Webster Hubbell plead guilty to mail fraud and tax evasion after admitting to stealing $484,000 from his former law firm and some of its clients. He also pledged to cooperate with Starr’s ongoing investigation of Whitewater as part of a negotiated plea bargain.

December 13, 1994

An 11-page “task list” prepared by White House lawyer, Jane C. Sherbourne, mentioned the departed Webster Hubbell. Sherbourne, whose job was to help manage the White House’s handling of Whitewater, listed Hubbell succinctly, as item No. 11. Wrote Sherbourne below Hubbell’s name: “Monitor cooperation.”

Federal News Service 12/15/99 HEARING OF THE HOUSE GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE ROLE OF JOHN HUANG AND THE RIADY FAMILY IN POLITICAL FUNDRAISING …..”…..

REP. BURTON: …… Most people think that this foreign fund-raising scandal began in 1995 or 1996. It did not. This scandal was born in the summer of 1992. Bill Clinton was the governor of Arkansas, and he was running for president. James Riady was a billionaire living in Indonesia. Mr. Riady flew from Jakarta to Los Angeles in August of 1992. He took a limousine ride with then-Governor Bill Clinton. He promised to raise a million dollars for Bill Clinton’s campaign. That set in motion a pattern of illegal activity that was repeated over and over again in 1993, ‘94, ‘95 and ‘96.

Foreign money was funneled to straw donors. Straw donors gave money to the DNC and other campaigns. Campaign officials claimed to have no idea anything suspicious was going on…… It happened time and time again with John Huang, James Riady, Charlie Trie, Pauline Kanchanalak, Ted Sioeng, Johnny Chung and Mark Jimenez. The DNC ultimately returned more than $3-1/2 million in illegal money. And I noted that in the New York Times today it indicated that that money was not illegal, but — I can’t remember the exact word, but — make — (To staff) What was it — Improper. Those were illegal contributions, not improper. They were illegal. John Huang’s name and Charlie Trie’s name were connected to most of it. Since then we’ve uncovered more illegal foreign money that the DNC still hasn’t returned.

In the fall of 1992 Mr. Riady worked with Mr. Huang to funnel about $200,000 through Lippo Bank employees. It then went to the DNC, and it also went to some state Democrat parties, including California, Michigan, Ohio and Missouri. Normally you wouldn’t think that an Indonesian businessman would think of directing contributions to Missouri. Who was steering this money to all these states? That’s one of the things that we want to find out. When we published our interim report last fall, we published bank records and memorabilia that showed the contributions were illegal. To my knowledge, not a penny of that money was returned by any of those campaign committees.

More illegal money was given through the Lippo Group in 1993 and 1994. In 1996 the DNC received $450,000 from an Indonesian couple named Wiriadinata. Forgive me if I don’t pronounce all these names correctly. The money came from Indonesia, from a close associate of Mr. Riady. Mr. Huang was listed as the solicitor of these contributions. This is one of the many issues we’ll be asking about this week.

The big question is why. Why did James Riady want to raise a million dollars for Bill Clinton’s campaign? When you add it all up, the Riadys and their associates gave almost $2 million to the president’s campaign and his other causes. Why? Did they like his health care plan? Did they admire his position on Social Security? I doubt it.

There was an interesting passage in John Huang’s FBI 302 interviews. They were talking about the $100,000 that Mr. Riady gave to Webster Hubbell. Mr. Huang was asked if there was a purpose behind this money.

He responded, quote, “Everything has a purpose” — end quote. I don’t know exactly what he meant. That’s one of the things we want to ask him about this week.

I doubt that we are going to get all the answers today. I don’t know if Mr. Huang has all of the answers. We reviewed John Huang’s FBI and 302 interviews. If there is a reason or a purpose behind all this money, I didn’t see it there.

If we really want to get the answers, we need to talk to James Riady. He needs to testify.

Mr. Riady hasn’t set foot in this country in three years. I understand from media reports that his lawyers are trying to negotiate a plea agreement with the Justice Department. From what I understand, Mr. Riady wants to clear away his legal problems so he can come back into the United States. If he wants to come back to the United States, the first thing he should do is come forward and explain his role in this whole fiasco to the American people. I think they deserve some answers.

It’s clear to me that the Justice Department had enough evidence to indict Mr. Riady a long time ago. I don’t know why he hasn’t been indicted. The attorney general made a decision two years ago, not to appoint an independent counsel. She invited a lot of scrutiny when she did that. We’ll be watching very closely to see if Mr. Riady gets a sweetheart deal.

I know what kind of deals Republicans got from Janet Reno’s Justice Department. There was a man named Simon Fireman. He funneled about $120,000 to the Bob Dole for President Campaign. He got a $6 million fine.

There is a company by the name of Empire Sanitary Landfill. They gave $129,000 in illegal contributions to Republican campaigns. They were fined $8 million.

Another Republican, who was responsible for fewer illegal conduit — contributions than Mr. Huang, got a $5 million fine. Unlike Mr. Huang, both of the Republicans got terms of detention. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens with Mr. Riady.

The fact that James Riady hasn’t been able to come back into the country has not stopped him from keeping in touch with the president.

He showed up when the president was in New Zealand for an economic conference in September, and the meeting was captured on videotape.

Because Mr. Riady has thumbed his nose at the campaign finance investigation, we wondered why the president would greet him so warmly and how he could get a seat of honor at an event the president attended. We asked the White House about the meeting, and they were quick to supply two tapes that the White House photographer took. And I’d like for you to see the tapes from the White House right now…..

Now you notice that tape stopped just as Mr. Clinton approached Mr. Riady. Now I’d like for you to see tape three. This tape came from a source connected with the White House……. I think that that shows a little different picture. The White House tapes don’t show it, but President Clinton really did pay some special attention to Mr. Riady. This White House is so consumed with covering things up that their taxpayer-funded photographer wouldn’t even allow a tape to be made of the president shaking Mr. Riady’s hand. No one minded the president meeting Mr. Riady. They just didn’t want anybody to know how warmly he was greeted because of the problems surrounding Mr. Riady. Did the president ask Mr. Riady to come back and explain his role in this scandal? I don’t think so. The White House has never shown an intense desire to get all the facts out. The president should ask Mr. Riady and all the other people who stayed out of the country to come back and explain their actions…….

Miscellaneous

Christian Science Monitor; Boston, Mass.; 12/17/99 Robert Kilborn and Lance Carden; “…..John Huang, who admitted raising illegal contributions for the Democratic Party, gave his first public testimony on the scandal. Under a grant of limited immunity, Huang testified that he wasn’t aware of any wrongdoing by [President] Clinton or Gore in the fund-raising scandal. Although Huang expressed remorse for his illegal activities - for which he was sentenced to a year’s probation and fined $10,000 - he accused some lawmakers and others of “unjustifiably demonizing me and other Asian-Americans.”

New York Times; New York; 12/17/99 “….Documents made public today at a Congressional hearing about a Democratic fund-raiser at the center of the 1996 campaign finance controversy showed that in interviews with Justice Department investigators, President Clinton denied placing fund-raising calls from an official White House workspace. The documents also showed that Mr. Clinton was never asked in the interviews about the fund-raiser, John Huang, who testified for a second day today before the House Government Reform Committee under a grant of limited immunity. Representative Dan Burton, the Indiana Republican who is the committee chairman, said before his panel released the interviews that he could not understand why the F.B.I.never asked the president and Vice President Al Gore about activities of Mr. Huang or other main figures in the illegal fund-raising. ….. ‘’How could they not ask the president about John Huang?,’’ Mr. Burton asked. ‘’Did they forget? Did they think it wasn’t important? Did someone tell them not to?’’ ….”

The Washington Post 12/17/99 David A. Vise; Lorraine Adams; “…. “I am at a loss,” Burton wrote, “to understand why you would tolerate an investigation that failed to ask the president a single question about the following subjects: James Riady, John Huang, Charlie Trie, Mark Middleton, and the Presidential Legal Expense Trust.” Burton also complained that Gore was not questioned about “the Hsi Lai Temple, Maria Hsia, John Huang and James Riady.” In a statement released yesterday, the Justice Department said it “has conducted a vigorous investigation into allegations concerning campaign finance violations . . . interviews have been conducted so as to focus on the matters then under review.” ….”

Wall Street Journal; New York; 12/16/99 “….Abstract: “the second of three days of Congressional testimony by John Huang, the mystery man behind many of the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign’s fund-raising scandals, will likely draw C-SPAN cameras and not much else” The conclusion one draws from this is fairly obvious: The people who violated existing campaign laws in 1996 have largely gotten away with it. Mr. Huang won a sweetheart plea agreement with the Justice Department that resulted in no jail time and involved him only pleading guilty to making $7,500 in illegal campaign contributions that were unrelated to the 1996 election. “As it now stands, the law has no teeth,” remarked Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman. “Why else would two of the most prominent figures from the 1996 scandal — John Huang and Charlie Trie — be allowed to plea to charges that resulted in no jail time?” Why else? We can answer that in two words — Janet Reno. And beyond that, her boss, Bill Clinton. ……. From Mr. Clinton’s first days in office, his “strategic partnership” with China included a friendship with Asian fat cats and Clinton fund-raising operatives such as the Lippo Group’s James Riady and Macau’s mysterious money man Ng Lap Seng. Then-Commerce Secretary Ron Brown ferried corporate titans and Friends of Bill to Beijing and Hong Kong to cut deals, and national security aide Sandy Berger, a former China trade lobbyist, sat in on weekly White House meetings to discuss strategy and fund raising for the 1996 Presidential campaign. The lines between foreign policy, national security and Mr. Clinton’s self interest blurred. And surely with this bad example before them, those lines blurred in the eyes of many officials, at many levels, throughout the government. ……. Her department lurched into a series of feckless investigations, obtained a few guilty pleas, but made no real progress toward uncovering the truth about what precisely had happened. We are not suggesting here that the fund-raising and the Lee case are linked directly, but we are suggesting that Ms. Reno’s Department acted as if it didn’t want to know. Now we are told that the answer to all our problems is more and tighter campaign finance laws, like the ones the incumbent Administration has ignored and the incumbent Attorney General has managed not to enforce. …..”

The American Spectator 12/16/99 Byron York “…..Television news viewers have a right to be confused about the congressional testimony of formerly fugitive fundraiser John Huang. On Wednesday, Huang spoke extensively about his role in nearly $1 million in illegal contributions to the 1992 elect-Clinton effort, but few news organizations took the trouble to explain it. Some, like ABC and NBC, ignored it altogether. Others barely mentioned it. Here’s what the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather reported: In his first ever comments on the matter, Democratic fundraiser John Huang told Congress today he regrets his own illegal fundraising activities in the Clinton presidential campaigns. Huang testified that the President and Vice President were not in any way involved and that he was never, as some have claimed, a spy for communist China. Huang took a thinly veiled swipe at Republicans in Congress who compelled him to testify and others for what he called quote “demonizing me and other Asian-Americans” unquote. …..

The American Spectator 12/16/99 Byron York “…..…..What interests investigators is the amount and the timing of the contributions. The fact that the donations of Ong, Yeh, Ma, Chiang, Sund, and daSilveira add up to precisely $200,000 suggests that the contributions might have been guided by some central supervisor. And the fact that they were all made within a very brief time period could be further evidence of an overall plan. Altogether, the apparent coordination of the contributions — in light of the known campaign violations of Huang — makes investigators believe that someone was orchestrating an illegal contribution scheme to benefit the ‘92 Clinton campaign. To the investigators, it does not make sense that this could have been a random occurrence. “It’s like throwing paint at the wall and getting the Mona Lisa,” says one. “It just doesn’t happen that way.” But such suspicion does not extend to the Democratic National Committee. According to spokesman Rick Hess, the DNC has not returned any of the contributions from the people mentioned in this article, apart from the $50,000 Hip Hing Holdings contribution. For that matter, the party has not returned any of the contributions made by John Huang himself…..”

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