If you believe in polls....
Poll: Two-thirds of Americans Want New Impeachment Review
NewsMax.com
December 21, 1999
NEW YORK—A NewsMax.com/Zogby International poll finds that two-thirds of Americans want Congress to consider a second round of impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton for possibly swapping United States military secrets to China in exchange for campaign cash.
Americans overwhelmingly indicated they are seriously concerned that President Clinton may have authorized the sale and transfer of nuclear and ballistic missile technology to China. The national survey of 1,005 registered voters was conducted by NewsMax.com/Zogby last week.
The NewsMax.com/Zogby poll comes on the heels of a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released last week that found that 50 percent of Americans now approve of Congress' impeachment of Clinton in December of 1998 after the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Americans apparently take the China allegations more seriously.
Since 1996, federal law enforcement and congressional sources have claimed that large amounts of money — some estimates place the amount as high as $10 million — were funneled from Chinese government sources to help the Democratic National Committee fund Bill Clinton's re-election campaign in 1996.
Nearly 10 percent of Americans surveyed said the allegations were serious enough that Congress should immediately convene impeachment hearings against the President.
Another 56 percent of Americans said Congress should begin a preliminary investigation to decide if impeachment is warranted.
In 1998, the House of Representatives impeached the President. He avoided removal from office when the Senate decided not to convict him after a brief trial in 1999.
Support for a fresh look at a possible Chinagate impeachment inquiry, however, enjoys broad support from Democrats, Republicans and Independent voters. African-American voters, considered among the president's staunchest supporters, also backed the popular impeachment examination by 63 percent.
Concerns about the President's treatment of China and military transfers to the communist country have simmered for several years.
In 1996, the New York Times reported that U.S. defense contractors Hughes Electronics and Loral Space & Communications assisted China in developing and improving the launch capabilities of their ballistic missiles. After a grand-jury investigation was convened to investigate Loral's transfer of classified technology to China, President Clinton moved to authorize the transfer of such technology.
Since 1993, the chairman of Loral, Bernard Schwartz, donated more than $1 million to the DNC, making Schwartz the committee's largest donor.
The Clinton administration has also moved to issue more than 350 waivers, largely beginning in 1996, to transfer American supercomputers to China. Previous to Clinton's authorizations, China had received few clearances because the computers could be used to develop advanced nuclear weaponry.
Recently, ABC News reported that the Clinton administration authorized the sale of an ultra-high-speed IBM computer the network claimed would enable China to develop its nuclear-carrying ballistic missiles.
President Clinton has made technology transfers of previously classified technology a priority. Early in Clinton's first term, administration officials changed the screening process for technology transfers, moving the approval process away from the State and Defense Departments to the Commerce Department. The move was said to have increased the flow of technology transfers to China.
Chinagate figure John Huang, who had been a major Clinton fund-raiser, also served in the Commerce Department. Congressional investigators believed Huang served as an agent of China, using ties through his previous employer, the Riady family of Indonesia.
NEWSMAX.COM/ZOGBY POLL
Question: Allegations have risen that Bill Clinton traded U.S. nuclear and ballistic missile technology to the Chinese for campaign contributions. Should Congress convene impeachment hearings against President Bill Clinton over these allegations or should there be a preliminary investigation to see if there is a reason to start impeachment proceedings, or should Congress do nothing? Congress should:
1. Convene impeachment proceedings — 10 percent
2. Begin a preliminary investigation for impeachment — 56 percent
3. Do nothing — 30 percent
4. Not sure — 4 percent.
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