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To: Neocon who wrote (7904)	5/11/1999 4:21:00 PM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 17770

Chung: China threatened me Former DNC fund raiser told not to cooperate with FBI Associated Press WASHINGTON, May 11 — After pleading guilty to making illegal campaign contributions to President Bill Clinton, Johnny Chung testified Tuesday, he was threatened and offered money from Beijing "to take care of" his legal expenses and family if he refused to cooperate with the FBI.... $2 MILLION FROM CLIENTS Chung said he used political donations to help build his business as a consultant to Chinese executives who were greatly impressed by his ability to take them to events where they could be photographed with Clinton and other political leaders. He took in more than $2 million from his foreign clients, Chung said. Chung said in August 1996 he accepted $300,000 from Gen. Ji Sheng De, the head of Chinese military intelligence, who told him he could use it to help Clinton and the Democratic Party. Chung said that instead, acting under advice of the woman who arranged the payment from the general, he kept the money for other purposes including to help take care of the general’s son, Alex, during his stay in the United States. The FBI has traced only $20,000 of that money to the Democratic National Committee. In his prepared statement, Chung said that after he pleaded guilty and was cooperating with the FBI, he was contacted by Robert Luu, a U.S. citizen in Beijing, who said he was helping Liu Chao Ying, the Chinese woman who introduced him to Ji... Chung also was expected to testify that he was told by a Beijing banker that former Little Rock, Ark., restaurateur Charlie Trie approached the Chinese government sometime before February 1996 asking for $1 million to support Clinton and the Democratic Party. Clinton as Arkansas governor frequented Trie’s restaurant near the state Capitol in Little Rock and Trie in 1996 offered more than $600,000 from questionable sources to Clinton’s legal defense fund, which rejected the donations. Trie goes on trial Monday in Little Rock, charged with obstructing a Senate investigation into campaign fund-raising abuses by ordering the concealment of subpoenaed documents in Arkansas. msnbc.com

To: Neocon who wrote (7904)	5/11/1999 5:24:00 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17770

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 Well, I was listening to a good portion of that hearing on C-SPAN radio this afternoon and I didn't hear Chung say anywhere that the money was given to him for the explicit purpose of being funneled to the DNC. What I think may be the real story is this Chinese intelligence head was extremely savvy about not leaving any testifiable evidence that this was ploy aimed at meddling in US politics. While he may not have specifically stated what Chung should to with the money, I think there was an implicit understanding that should Chung not use it to advance political and business agendas for the Chinese gov't, he might have some "explaining" to do, one broken knuckle at a time. You just don't provide $300,000 to someone without having at least a vague understanding and assurance that you're going to get your money's worth. In sum, US politics is incredibly corrupt. The Chinese know it and exploit it to their own benefit. They justifiably look down upon the US as a place where money can buy almost anything. Of course, they completely ignore the fact that, while money is considered an excercise of the 1st amendment, China completely lacks an environment where this type of pork barrel politics can be practiced. In fact, their people only found out today (officially) that the US has already twice apoligized for the accidental bombing of their embassy. Regards, Ron