Posted on 05/02/2003 1:17:58 PM PDT by follow the money
Edited on 04/13/2004 3:31:03 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
WASHINGTON -A politically connected Chinese-American woman accused of being a double agent had 2,100 contacts with Chinese officials during her time as an FBI informant, documents show.
Law enforcement officials are examining whether those meetings compromised investigations into possible Chinese influence on U.S. elections through campaign contributions.
(Excerpt) Read more at bayarea.com ...
No, not an excuse, an explanation as part of a whole set of events. Is there any reason to believe that the ChiComs are not using channels today to funnel money to candidates? We know Hillary is ruthless and she should be treated seriously as such. Likewise wishing that some noneffective campaign finance reform is affecting any change is ridiculous. The Leung case is just the tip of the iceberg that needs law enforcement to solve. The 'good guys' need to show some desire to stop that money.
If this doesn't take you to the right article, let me know.
By the way, didn't this Chinese lady appear for years in "Terry and the Pirates?"
As an American of Asian descent, I was thoroughly disgusted by the Chinagate scandals that exploded during the Clinton-Gore years.
I was sickened by the Clinton White House's obliteration of the rule of law. I was incensed by the Democrat Party's systematic sellout of national security. And I was especially outraged by the race-card propagandizing of so-called Asian-American "leaders."
Crying racism at every opportunity, these Asian-American politicos made blind excuses for corrupt fund-raisers such as convicted campaign finance criminals John Huang and Pauline Kanchanalak. Rather than lambaste Red China for its covert operation to infiltrate America's electoral system, these leaders complained about ethnic "scapegoating." They stubbornly defended slippery beneficiaries of tainted cash such as Democratic governor Gary Locke of Washington state, who took money not only from Huang and Kanchanalak, but also (as I reported for the Seattle Times) more than $14,000 donated in the name of clueless monks and nuns at a Seattle-area Buddhist temple.
Now we are at the dawn of Chinagate II.
Overshadowed by the war on terror and ignored by the media elite, there has been almost total dead silence about this alarming new national security scandal. Indeed, the only noise has come from Asian-American leaders, once again fretting about racism instead of condemning potential acts of treason.
Add to the long list of Buddhist monks, shady foreign fund-raisers, Beijing-linked tycoons and family members, and other funny-money givers who have entwined themselves in our electoral system the name of Katrina Leung. She is an accused Chinese double agent who was an influential activist and Republican fund-raiser in southern California. Leung was arrested on April 9 and charged with illegally obtaining secret documents to the advantage of a foreign power.
Leung is alleged to have conducted long-term sexual affairs with at least two veteran FBI counterintelligence agents. According to court documents, Leung has acknowledged giving the Chinese secret information that she received from retired FBI agent James Smith.
Despite Smith's discovery in 1991 that Leung was turning over classified information to Chinese intelligence sources without FBI approval, Leung continued as a paid FBI informant. The New York Times also reports that Leung apparently compromised a highly sensitive nuclear espionage investigation by exposing the identities of two FBI agents working on the case to Beijing.
As if the FBI bungling weren't enough, Newsweek's Michael Isikoff reports that Leung was also a key source for a special Justice Department campaign-finance task force during the Clinton-Gore years. Leung, Isikoff's sources say, "was the task force's chief source on prime target Ted Sioeng, a suspected Chinese 'agent of influence' whose family and businesses contributed $250,000 to the Democratic Party in 1996 and an additional $100,000 to a California GOP Senate candidate [Matt Fong]. Leung and Sioeng (who sat next to Al Gore at his Buddhist-temple fund-raiser that year in Los Angeles) were 'close friends,' one source says."
Isikoff reports further: "Task-force prosecutors hoped to use Leung to lure Sioeng back into the United States in the spring of 1997. But the ruse failed -- apparently because Sioeng got suspicious -- and the case collapsed. Now FBI officials want to know if Leung sabotaged the probe and was actually protecting Sioeng."
Over the past twenty years, the FBI (or rather, American taxpayers) paid Leung $1.7 million in fees and expenses. She spent her money on a lavish house in tony San Marino and spread the wealth generously to Republican officeholders and candidates.
In 2002, she donated $2,000 to the conservative American Success Political Action Committee; $850 to the California Republican Party/Team California; $1,000 to the David Dreier for Congress Committee; and $600 to the National Republican Congressional Committee. In addition, she donated $10,000 to former Los Angeles mayor (and nominal Republican) Richard Riordan's primary election campaign for governor. After GOP candidate Bill Simon beat Riordan in the March primary, Leung donated $4,200 to Simon and another $5,000 to the unsuccessful Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, Bruce McPherson, plus $850 more to the state GOP.
Riordan and Simon refuse to comment about their relationship with Leung. Republican Party leaders have been mute on this national security nightmare. It is time for principled conservatives to speak and act. Reject political correctness and return the tainted cash now.
INATODAY.com - INTERNATIONAL NEWS ANALYSIS -- TODAY by Toby Westerman: "FASCIST AMERICA? Russia and Communist Cuba Join In 'Anti-Fascist-Front'" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "At the Moscow meeting, Russia declared that Cuba is its "key partner in Latin America." The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a press statement referring to an "active political dialogue based on mutual trust" between Russia and Cuba. "The two countries have similar or identical stances on a whole number of global political issues. Most importantly…on the construction of a fair and stable world order," the Russian Foreign Ministry declared. The "construction of a fair and stable world order" for Cuba and Russia includes sophisticated intelligence operations against the United States. Cuban operates a sophisticated intelligence program against the U.S. One of its highly placed agents, Ana Belen Montes, worked at the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency before her arrest and conviction of espionage in October 2002. The "Wasp Network," a Cuban espionage group spying on U.S. military facilities, was uncovered by the FBI and five of its leaders convicted in 2001. In 2001 the U.S. intelligence community was rocked by the discovery that top FBI intelligence agent Robert Hanssen spied on his country for Moscow for 20 years. On the island of Cuba, Russia still operates the Lourdes spy base, while Russia's close ally, China, is constructing a similar base not far away from Lourdes.") (April 29, 2003) (Read More...)
INATODAY.com - INTERNATIONAL NEWS ANALYSIS -- TODAY by Toby Westerman: "NEW RED TERROR" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "China maintains "high level military contacts" with Cuba, and is constructing an electronic spy base eight to ten miles from Russia's Lourdes intelligence facility, according to Dennis Hays, Executive Vice President of the pro-democracy exile group, the Cuban American National Foundation. The Chinese spy base, which would be capable of intercepting, and possibly jamming, U.S. electronic signals, "should be a security concern" to the U.S., urged Hays in an interview with INA Today. Hays also warned that the communist Chinese are active throughout the South American continent. The Cuban state-run press is openly discussing the "very strong ties with the Cuban military," said Perez, who notes that several Chinese generals have recently visited Cuba. In addition to China, Cuba's traditional friend and supporter, Russia, is still involved in the island.") (April 18, 2003) (Read More...)
WASHINGTON TIMES.com: "CHINESE SOLD IRAQ 'DUAL-USE' CHEMICAL" by Bill Gertz (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Despite French denials, U.S. intelligence and defense officials have confirmed that Iraq purchased from China a chemical used in making fuel for long-range missiles, with help from brokers in France and Syria.") (March 15, 2003) (Read More...)
The China money investigational door wasn't just locked, it was bricked over.
I'd get rid of the institutional coverup apparatus, i.e. the sitting Campaign Task Force and the Clinton holdovers. Then I'd quietly go about the business of doing an honest job of it with people of integrity. I'd play it close to the vest, with as little publicity and fanfare as possible. It takes time to plow through lies and cull out moles. Far more than if starting from scratch.
That said, I have no idea if that's the case with Bush/Ashcroft/Mueller. I simply note with interest that Leung and her handlers were arrested; and that the case presents excellent reason to now revisit numerous formerly closed issues. Bonus: Democrat howling about partisanship would be far more transparent and less effective in derailing an effort now.
Maybe the Campaign Task force wasn't disbanded to end the investigation, but so that it may begin.
Maybe...depending on what the meaning of the word 'maybe' is.
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