Chung tells his fund-raising story to Congress
May 11, 1999
Web posted at: 12:37 p.m. EDT (1637 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, May 11) -- For the first time, campaign fund-raising figure
Johnny Chung is publicly telling his story that the head of Chinese military intelligence
gave him $300,000 intended to help re-elect President Bill Clinton. Chung began testifying
Tuesday before the House Government Reform Committee about his allegations of a
Chinese attempts to influence the 1996 presidential elections. The hearing comes at
complicated time as U.S.-China relations have been strained by both NATO's accidental
bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade and the investigation into whether China stole
U.S. nuclear weapons secrets.
Chung is the latest witness in the ongoing probe of the 1996 campaign finance scandal by
the House committee chaired by Rep. Dan Burton, (R-Indiana).
For Republicans, Chung is the main example of what they contend was a Chinese effort to
influence the 1996 presidential elections. But Democrats says the FBI can trace only
$20,000 to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) out of the $300,000 that Chung
says was funneled to him by Gen. Ji Shengde, the head of Chinese military intelligence.
A recently prepared bipartisan report of the Senate Intelligence Committee said "most of
the remaining funds went for his personal use, including mortgage payments." The report
also said that Chung's allegation that he'd been given the money to assist in the election of
Clinton "is contrary to his previous statements."
Chung, a Taiwanese-born American who runs a broadcast fax business in Torrance,
California, is the first Asian-American fund-raiser to publicly testify about his dealings
with elite Chinese business and political figures.
In his prepared opening statement, Chung notes that between 1994 and 1996 he received
more than $2 million as a result of his business relationships in China, but less than 20
percent of that sum wound up as donations to political causes.
Chung is expected to say that much of the money went to pay for his own business
expenses as well as the costs associated with entertaining the various Chinese business
groups that sought to do business with him.
"I have never sought to do anything that might facilitate any sinister attempt to undermine
the interests of my country," Chung wrote in his opening statement.
Chung also is expected to call for changes in the current campaign finance system,
according to his opening statement.
"If you really want to do something about this ... then change the system that allowed me
to -- with a few selected donations -- attract the interest of the head of Chinese military
intelligence," the statement says.
Chung's testimony also follows recent disclosures by the Los Angeles Times, which
reported that Chung says he was told by Ji that "we like your president. I will give you
300,000 U.S. dollars. You can give it to the president and the Democratic Party. We hope
he will be re-elected."
Also expected in Chung's testimony on Tuesday is an allegation that a Beijing banker told
him that former Little Rock, Arkansas, restaurateur Charlie Trie approached the Chinese
government sometime before February 1996 asking for $1 million to support Clinton and
the Democratic party.
Trie owned a restaurant near the state capitol in Little Rock that Clinton often went to
when he was Arkansas governor. In 1996, Trie tried to give $600,000 from questionable
sources to Clinton's legal defense fund, which rejected the donations. Trie goes on trial
next Monday in Little Rock, charged with obstructing a U.S. Senate investigation into
campaign fund-raising abuses by ordering the concealment of subpoenaed documents in
Arkansas.
In addition, according to congressional sources, Chung also will say he was told by Ji
associate Liu Chaoying, the daughter of China's retired top general, that:
• China steered business to a Hong Kong aerospace executive with controversial links to
the Republican Party.
• China had funneled $500,000 to an international trading firm of former Clinton White
House aide Mark Middleton, who worked for presidential chief of staff Mack McLarty.
Middleton's lawyer, Robert Luskin, has denied that Middleton worked for China.
Chung contributed $360,000 to the Democratic Party and visited the White House more
than 50 times from 1994 to 1996. Chinese business executives frequently accompanied
him.
In one instance, Chung brought five Chinese businessmen, most officials of
government-controlled companies, to hear Clinton tape a radio address in March 1995. In
a White House visit two days before he was admitted for the radio address, Chung handed
Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief of staff, Margaret Williams, a $50,000 contribution.
Chung "often sort of hung around the anteroom of the first lady's office," then-White
House spokesman Mike McCurry said in 1996 at the start of the campaign finance
controversy. McCurry said Chung apparently tried "to portray himself as someone who
had greater influence than the facts would allow."
However, referring to the president and Mrs. Clinton, who have both been photographed
with him, Chung wrote in his opening statement : "I know I have caused a lot of trouble ...
but I can't help but think that they used me as much as I used them."
Chung also chastised the DNC in his statement, saying: "They should be ashamed of
themselves for attempting to jump on me and hide from the fact that they aggressively
solicited me for money from August 1994 until the campaign finance controversy came to
light in 1996."
"I now realize that they took my money with a smile and made fun of me when I turned
my back," Chung's statement says.
Chung, described by one National Security Official as a "hustler" who could "do some
damage to U.S. diplomacy" with Beijing.
Last year, he pleaded guilty to election law violations and began cooperating with the
Justice Department's investigation into alleged 1996 fund-raising irregularities. Chung
could have been imprisoned for 37 years and fined $1.45 million. He was sentenced to five
years probation and 3,000 hours of community service.
CNN's Jonathan Aiken and The Associated Press contributed to
this report.
cnn.com
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