Did John Huang funnel illegal foreign contributions to the Democratic National Committee in return for political favors? Was he given top-level security clearance to conduct economic espionage for the Chinese government?
With his Roadmap Through Scandal, Peter Wehner of Empower America provides a clear and concise summary of "the ethical problems plaguing the Clinton administration." Wehner's Roadmap raises questions about illegal fundraising, influence-peddling, and the deliberate imperilment of national security: Was the White House itself used to raise campaign funds? Did Al Gore and Bill and Hillary Clinton make fundraising calls from the White House? Was the White House database misused as a fundraising tool? Did the Immigration and Naturalization Service improperly naturalize one million new citizens so that they could vote in the 1996 election? Did John Huang and friends funnel illegal foreign contributions to the Democratic National Committee in return for political favors? Was Huang's top-level security clearance one of those favors, and did he use it to conduct economic espionage for the Chinese government?
Wehner reports that the Justice Department has "uncovered evidence that representatives of the People's Republic of China sought to direct contributions from foreign sources to the Democratic National Committee before the 1996 presidential election." Specifically, says Wehner, "Chinese representatives developed a plan to spend nearly $2 million to buy influence in Congress and the Clinton administration."
Wehner suggests that the Clinton administration may have succumbed to such blandishments. "In November 1992, President-elect Clinton strongly opposed normalizing relations with Vietnam until Hanoi finally made good on longstanding pledges for full disclosure on Americans missing from the war," he recalls. "A little more than two years later, Clinton changed his position." Wehner reports that the now-notorious John Huang "began aggressively arguing for a new U.S. trade policy toward Vietnam only one day after joining the Commerce Department in July 1994 -- and pushed the idea for the next 17 months while the Lippo Group sought to expand its investment empire into Vietnam." He points out that Lippo "stood to benefit enormously from expanded trade between Vietnam and the United States."
"Influence" might explain why Clinton "reversed a key administration policy on immigration following a $1.1 million Asian fundraising dinner . . . organized by John Huang. President Clinton had previously opposed the practice of allowing foreign-born siblings of naturalized U.S. citizens to come to the United States," observes Wehner. "But in March 1996 President Clinton made a last-minute aboutface -- a reversal that brought the White House in line with the 'top priority' recommendation made in a strongly-worded John Huang memorandum to Bill Clinton."
And what about Huang himself? Did he use "influence" to obtain his government position? Wehner points out that "John Huang, with no background check, received top-level security clearance for work at the Commerce Department while still working for the Lippo Group -- despite Huang's ties to a Lippo bank that was ordered to cease and desist money laundering, and despite Lippo's commercial ties to China and its intelligence service."
