William Jefferson Clinton Memorial Library

We'd like to welcome you to the Clinton Library -- dedicated to preserving the true legacy of the 42nd President of the United States.

Bill Clinton promised as President that his would be the "most ethical administration in the history of the country.” As you explore the pages of this website, you can decide for yourself whether he lived up to that promise

Democratic Fund-Raising

Bill Clinton, Al Gore and the Democrat National Committee (DNC) repeatedly violated existing campaign finance laws and degraded the White House by using access to the president and the office of the presidency as a fund-raising device for a political campaign.

According to a document released in December 1996, (dated 3/6/96 from the DNC's Office of Asian Pacific Affairs), the White House was aware of and a major participant in the DNC fund-raising effort. The memo read: "Administration of campaign activities will require the coordination of the White House, DNC, Clinton/Gore, Clinton administration appointees, community groups and thousands of individuals." (USA Today; Los Angeles Times, 12/30/96)

In documents released by the White House on Jan. 24, 1997 both Bill Clinton and Al Gore were clearly shown at the very heart of a massive fund-raising scheme which raked in nearly $100 million in soft money donations.

The New York Times reported that drug trafficker Jorge Cabrera was solicited for a donation by a DNC fundraiser in a Cuban hotel in November of 1995. Lawmakers investigating the matter say that the fundraiser promised Mr. Cabrera an invitation to a Miami event hosted by Vice President Gore in exchange for the contribution.

Jorge Cabrera, a convicted felon from Florida, gave the DNC $20,000 and then attended a political reception in Miami at which Cabrera got his picture taken with Al Gore. Cabrera was soon invited to a December 1995 pre-Christmas event at the White House and was photographed with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. The next month in January 1996, undercover agents arrested Cabrera with three tons of Colombian cocaine. Prior to Cabrera's January arrest, he had been arrested twice on drug charges, and pleaded guilty to non-drug-related charges in both cases. Cabrera is serving a 19-year prison sentence. (The Detroit News, 2/16/97; Miami Herald, 1/19/97; The Washington Post, 10/20/96)

The DNC had already returned $1.6 million in illegal or questionable contributions and in Feb. 1997, DNC General Chairman Governor Roy Romer announced the DNC will return an additional $1.5 million in illegal, questionable or improper campaign donations owed to felons, individuals under indictment and companies with criminal backgrounds.

How's that for a new legal defense? "I'm not guilty because I've returned what I obtained illegally."

For Sale: The White House

President Clinton did not deny that he solicited contributions at the White House -- a practice that is against the law. (18 U.S.C., Section 607) When asked at a press conference whether he had personally made fund-raising calls from the White House, Clinton said, "I simply can't say that I've never done it."

Not only did Clinton himself initiate the selling of overnight stays at the White House, he approved rewards for top donors including meals, golf outings and morning jogs. Clinton's own handwritten notes indicate that he personally approved using the White House to solicit money and initiated overnight stays in the Lincoln bedroom. The White House released documents on Feb. 25, 1997 indicating that Clinton personally approved aggressive use of the White House for fund-raising and initiated over-night stays for $50,000 and $100,000 contributors. According to the documents, Clinton personally approved a plan to reward fat-cat campaign donors by selling overnight stays at the White House, scribbling a note in a January 1995 memorandum, saying: "Yes, pursue all 3 and promptly. And get other names at 100,000 or more, 50,000 or more." (The New York Times; The Washington Times, 2/26/97)

A total of 938 guests stayed overnight in the Lincoln and Queen's bedrooms with more than one-third of these guests being donors to the DNC or Clinton-Gore `96 who gave more than $10 million to the Democrats in the 1996 cycle.

Political fund-raising on government property is unlawful.

Former federal judge Abner Mikva circulated a memo in 1995 while White House counsel that said: "Campaign activities of any kind are prohibited in or from government buildings. ... also no fund-raising phone calls or mail may emanate from the White House." Furthermore, back in October 1993 while signing the Hatch Act Reform Amendments, Clinton claimed that, "The Federal workplace, where the business of our Nation is done will still be strictly off limits to partisan political activity." (Associated Press, 3/2/97; ABC's "This Week," 3/2/97; Bill Clinton, Public Papers of the Presidents, 10/6/93)

Vice-President Al Gore acknowledged making direct telephone solicitations from the White House - a violation of the federal Hatch Act. He admited to soliciting money for the DNC in the White House using a DNC credit card and claims he did nothing illegal. Gore acknowledged making the fund-raising calls, but claimed seven times in a press conference that there was "no controlling legal authority" covering his actions.

"My counsel advised me that there is no controlling legal authority or case that says that there was any violation of law whatsoever in the manner in which I asked people to contribute to our reelection campaign." Furthermore, Gore confessed that, "On a few occasions, I made some telephone calls, from my office in the White House, using a DNC credit card. I was advised there was nothing wrong with that practice. The Hatch Act has a specific provision saying that, while federal employees are prohibited from requesting campaign contributions, the president and the vice president are not covered by that act because, obviously, we are candidates." (Al Gore White House press conference, 3/3/97; The Washington Times, 3/4/97)

I did nothing wrong. I did nothing illegal. I will not do it again. - Al Gore, 1997

Vice President Al Gore attended an illegal Democratic National Committee (DNC) John Huang-organized fund-raiser on April 29, 1996 at the Hsi Lai Buddhist monastery in California which raised $140,000.

Four days before details emerge on Al Gore's participation in the illegal fund-raiser at the Hsi Lai Buddhist monastery, Gore claims, "Number one, we have strictly abided by all of the campaign finance laws, strictly. There've been no violations." Three days before the monastery visit, the DNC sent Gore's office a confidential memorandum making clear the event was a fund-raiser, including instructions for Gore to "inspire political and fund-raising efforts among the Asian Pacific American Community." Minutes before the event, Gore press aide Peggy Wilhide described it as "a fund-raiser" to a Boston Globe reporter who was traveling with Gore. Gore's spokeswoman, Lorraine Voles, reiterated in January 1997, that Gore did not realize the monastery visit was a fund-raiser because he had never been informed by his staff.

Non-profit organizations, like the monastery, are barred under federal tax law from hosting political events. (Boston Sunday Globe, 1/12/97)
On Oct. 18th, the DNC announces that it will reimburse the Hsi Lai Buddhist monastery $15,000 to cover the illegal fund-raiser attended by Gore. On Jan. 14, 1997, Al Gore admits in a television interview that he knew the fund-raiser at the Buddhist monastery was a "finance-related event." On Jan. 24, Al Gore changes his story for the fifth time about the fund-raiser at the California Buddhist monastery saying, "I did not know that it was a fund-raiser." Ultimately, Maria Hsia took the fall for the Vice President and was indicted for alleged election fundraising violations.

Coffee Chats

On Feb. 10, 1997, the Boston Globe reported that in an interview, former DNC Chairman Don Fowler confessed that the DNC routinely solicited campaign donations from people after they attended White House coffees with Clinton saying, "We never tried to mask that these coffees were sponsored in one way or another by the Democratic Party. ... These coffees were just part of a larger program." White House spokesman Mike McCurry confirmed the Boston Globe report saying, "The president would wonder why he was doing all those coffees if they hadn't had some follow-up." McCurry said Clinton expected the committee to call people "who might contribute" after the meetings.

In the space of just 22 months prior to the elections, 103 coffee klatches were held at the White House to reward major DNC contributors. The White House coffees were attended by 1,528 guests. (Politics Now, 1/27/97; U.S. News & World Report, 3/3/97; The Hill, 2/26/97) 358 individuals or companies represented at the White House coffee meetings contributed $27 million in 1995 and 1996. (The Boston Globe, 2/10/97; Politics Now, 1/27/97)

• On May 13, 1996, the nation's top bankers were granted a private audience during a coffee klatch which included President Clinton, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, Treasury undersecretary for monetary affairs John Hawke, Comptroller of the Currency Eugene Ludwig, DNC chairman Don Fowler and DNC finance chairman Marvin Rosen. Ludwig, whose office regulates nationally chartered banks, mingled with 17 top banking executives including chief executives from Chase Manhattan, Banc One, Wachovia, NationsBank and 13 other big financial institutions.
• According to The Washington Times, [2/1/97], Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission Ann Brown attended White House coffee chat in Al Gore's office and met with a leader of a trade group she regulates. Four days after the event, Miss Brown contributed $25,000 to the Democrat Party. She also gave $12,500 directly to Democrat candidates. Brown's total contributions exceeded the allowable limit and the DNC returned $10,000 to Brown in November 1996.
• Richard Machado, a physician who owns several hospitals in Puerto Rico, attended a White House coffee on Nov. 9. Six days before the coffee, Machado wrote three soft money checks to the DNC totaling $200,000. Machado went back to the White House for another coffee on June 18, 1996. The next day, Machado wrote another check to the DNC for $50,000.
• David H. Nutt, an attorney from Jackson, Miss., attended a coffee with Clinton and Gore on Dec. 13 and wrote an $80,000 personal check to the DNC. (Politics Now, 1/27/97)
• Arief Wiriadinata, a landscape architect, attended a White House coffee on Dec. 15, 1995. Three days earlier, Arief and his wife Soraya both wrote a total of four checks to the DNC in the amounts of $20,000 and $25,000. Before leaving the country for Indonesia in June of 1996, the Wiriadinatas gave a total of $450,000 to the DNC. (FEC report; U.S. News & World Reports, 2/10/97)
• Robert Elkins, chairman of Integrated Health Services in Owings Mills, Md., attended his first coffee on Dec. 15. Five days later, on Dec. 20, after the first coffee and two days after his second coffee and one day before his third visit to the White House, Elkins wrote a $50,000 personal check to the DNC and delivered a $75,000 check from his company's coffers. (Politics Now, 1/27/97) Elkins visited the White House a fourth time on Jan. 25. Five days later, on Jan. 30, Elkins delivered another $50,000 check from company coffers. By the end of 1996, Elkins had delivered personal and company checks totaling $560,000 to the DNC, which elevated Elkins to the DNC's sixth largest donor slot over the past two years. (Politics Now, 1/27/97)
• William D. Rollnick, a retired chairman of Genstar Rental Electronics, attended a White House coffee on Jan. 25 and wrote a $50,000 check to the DNC. (Politics Now, 1/27/97)
• Mark Jimenez, chairman of Future Tech International of Miami, attended a coffee on Feb. 6 and six days later, on Feb. 12, Jimenez gave the DNC $50,000. Over the next eight months Future Tech donated another $175,500. (Politics Now, 1/27/97)
• Derald H. Ruttenberg, chairman of New York-based Tinicum Inc., attended a White House coffee on March 5. Fifteen days later, Ruttenberg wrote a check to the DNC for $100,000. (Politics Now, 1/27/97)
• Robert M. Rubin, executive vice president of American International Group, attended a coffee on March 5. Eight days later, Rubin cut a check to the DNC for $80,000. (Politics Now, 1/27/97)
• Goldman Sachs executives Robert Menschel and Barrie Wigmore attend a coffee on May 1 and one week later, both wrote a check for $100,000 to the DNC. (Politics Now, 1/27/97)
• Former American Distilling executive Samuel Rothberg attended a coffee on May 1. Seven days later, Rothberg wrote a check for $100,000 to the DNC.
• Pauline Kanchanalak, a Thai businesswoman attended a White House coffee and brought three Thai business executives with extensive financial interests in China. The next day Kanchanalak gave $85,000 to the DNC and an associate gave $50,000. (Los Angeles Times, 1/20/97; The Washington Times, 1/2/97; Chicago Tribune, 12/27/96)
• President Clinton admited that it was "clearly inappropriate" for him to have met with Wang Jun during a White House coffee in February 1996. Jun, the head of a Chinese weapons trading company, was being investigated by the Justice Department and the FBI at the same time and was caught for smuggling at least $4 million worth of 2,000 illegal AK-47 assault weapons destined for gang members in California.
• White House special counsel Lanny Davis admited on March 15, 1997, the Clinton White House held at least 58 receptions, meals and other events, in addition to the 103 coffees, for Democrat Party donors and political supporters over the past four years, than had been previously disclosed by the White House.
• The New York Times reported that documents turned over to Congress by the White House's former senior political aide, Harold Ickes, show that coffees which Clinton held at the White House in 1996 had systematic fund-raising targets associated with them, often at $400,000 a session, and both Clinton and Gore were personally kept abreast of each month's fund-raising intake.

The investigation into Democrat fund-raising violations revealed that the Clinton-Gore White House placed Clinton's "longtime friend" John Huang in a sensitive, high-level government post as a political payback, even though former Under Secretary of Commerce Jeffrey Garten described Huang as "totally unqualified" to handle policy matters at the Commerce Department and said he recommended that Huang be "walled off" from any issues regarding China.

Huang was placed at the Commerce Department after the White House received a letter of recommendation touting Huang as "the political power that advises the Riady family on issues and where to make contributions." (Letter to the Office of Presidential Personnel by California State Senate President Pro-Tem David Roberti, Feb. 17, 1993) The Riady family and their Indonesia- based conglomerate, the Lippo Group, contributed $800,000 to the Democrat National Committee and state Democrat Party state committees in support of Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign.

Even though Under Secretary Garten had advised that Huang be "walled off" from issues relating to China, Huang was shown hundreds of classified intelligence reports on China, according to CIA officer John H. Dickerson' testimony. During the same time period, Huang made hundreds of calls to his former employer, the Lippo Group, which has extensive business investments in China, and frequently visited the Chinese embassy. (Senate Government Affairs Committee hearings, July 15-16, 1997) Huang's extensive access to top secret government intelligence on China, coupled with his activities as a Commerce Department official and Democrat Party fund raiser, have raised questions of potential espionage on behalf of communist China.

Documents display a clear pattern of illegal political fund-raising activities
White House and DNC documents displayed a clear pattern of illegal political fund-raising activities by John Huang. Mr. Huang, Clinton's longtime friend, the DNC's vice chairman of finance and former Commerce Department political appointee, was also involved in conflict of interest activities on behalf of his former Indonesian-based employer, the Lippo Group. The Lippo Group has a partnership with China Resources, a company owned by the communist Chinese government and connected to espionage, according to the Senate testimony of an international business expert.

White House records show that Mr. Huang, visited the White House 94 times and met 15 times with Bill Clinton, suggesting that Huang was not someone free-lancing without supervision. (The Boston Sunday Globe, 1/5/97)

Fifty-six, ($1,743,050) of the $3.1 million in political contributions returned or to be returned by the DNC was personally raised or organized by Mr. Huang. In total, Huang raised $4 million to $5 million for the DNC. (The Boston Sunday Globe, 1/5/97; Los Angeles Times, 12/30/96; The Washington Post, 11/1/96; The Washington Times, 11/27/96)

John Huang was fired and vanishes from public view. On Oct. 29th John Huang reappears at the offices of the public-interest group Judicial Watch for a court-ordered deposition.

The DNC later released thousands of pages of documents detailing the scope of fund-raising by John Huang which show that Huang raised $3.4 million more than party officials had previously claimed.

The Washington Post reported on Feb. 13, 1997, the Justice Department investigation into illegal Democrat fund-raising activities uncovered evidence that representatives of Communist China sought to direct contributions from foreign sources to the DNC before the 1996 presidential campaign.

While John Huang worked as a senior Commerce Department political appointee and was privy to classified trade briefing, Huang regularly met and dined with Chinese Embassy officials. (The Boston Globe, 2/16/97)

According to Commerce Department documents, Huang was cleared for top secret official information on Oct. 12, 1995, and was scheduled to receive an intelligence briefing from the CIA's liaison to Commerce. The day of the classified briefing, Huang took a taxi from the residence of the Chinese ambassador back to his office. Huang also called Lippo Bank two more times within the next seven days. (The Boston Globe, 2/16/97)

More Indo-Chinese Connections to the White House

The Washington Post and Washington Times reported that Hillary Clinton's top aid, Margaret Williams, accepted a $50,000 political donation from Johnny Chung at the White House in March 1995. Since 1994, Johnny Chung, a Taiwanese-American from Torrance, Calif., and his company, Automated Intelligent Systems, have given $366,000 to the Democrat Party, all of which is being returned by the DNC because of the illegal or questionable nature of the contributions. Mr. Chung has visited the White House at least 50 times, sometimes bringing business associates from China and other Far East places that he wanted to impress. California records show that Chung incorporated seven companies with investors from China and Hong Kong over the last two years, and FEC records show that several of his largest political donations were made at about the same time as the incorporations. (The Washington Post, 2/15/97; The New York Times, 2/25/97; Time, 3/3/97)

Democratic fund-raiser Johnny Chung told federal investigators in testimony taken between December 1997 and March 1998, that the chief of China's military intelligence secretly directed funds from Beijing to help reelect President Clinton in 1996. Chung says he met three times with the intelligence official, Gen. Ji Shengde, who ordered $300,000 deposited into Chungs' Torrance bank account to subsidize campaign donations intended for Bill Clinton. (LA TIMES, April 4, 1999)

Chung pleaded guilty in 1998 to election law violations and has become the first major figure to cooperate with a Justice Department investigation of campaign finance abuses, including a probe into improper foreign donations.

Clinton admited discussing policy issues with Indonesian businessman James Riady but claims Riady never influenced his decisions.

Ng Lap Seng, a Macao property developer serving on the communist Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, donated $15,000 to the DNC in October 1994, 10 days after his Little Rock, Arkansas firm, San Kin Yip Inc., was incorporated. Ng acknowledged that the $15,000 did not come from U.S.-generated funds and that other contributions by his business partner, Charlie Trie, also might have come originally from Ng's business interests in China, Hong Kong, and the neighboring Portuguese enclave of Macao. (The Washington Post, 2/25/97)

The DNC accepted a $3,000 donation from a Washington, D.C., woman who has been dead for 10 years. Both Huang and Trie claimed credit for the donation. (Associated Press; The Washington Post, 3/1/97)

A plan to lease the Long Beach Naval Shipyard to the Chinese government-owned China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) was backed by the White House and pushed by local officials. Furthermore, COSCO is to receive $138 million in loan guarantees from the U.S. government to build four container ships at a shipyard in Mobile, Ala. At issue is the direct intervention by Bill Clinton and the appearance that he may have put domestic considerations above possible national security concerns. No national security review was conducted before the Long Beach deal was approved.

Bill Clinton met privately with John K. H. Lee, the South Korean Chairman of Cheong Am America Inc., whose firm made an illegal $250,000 campaign contribution to the DNC. The DNC returned the illegal $250,000 donation from South Korean electronics executive John Lee after the Los Angeles Times asked the DNC questions about the contribution.

The DNC acknowledged on Oct. 14, 1996, receiving an illegal $25,000 contribution from Indonesian landscape architect/gardener Arief Wiriadinata and his wife Soraya.

Pauline Kanchanalak, a lobbyist for Thailand who helped form a US-Thai Business Council, donated illegal contributions to the DNC and had frequent contacts with John Huang. With Huang's help, Kanchanalak organized a coffee at which Clinton and senior officials from the Thai Foreign Ministry discussed US policy toward China and a possible Clinton visit to Thailand. On Nov. 26, 1996, Clinton ended a 12-day Asia-Pacific tour with a 24-hour state visit in Thailand.

Charlie Trie
Bank records indicate that Mr. Trie funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars from foreign accounts at the Bank of China to the DNC. Mr. Trie also attempted to deliver more than $600,000 in suspicious checks to the Clintons' legal defense trust, and once showed up at a White House coffee with a Chinese arms dealer.

On March 21, 1996, Little Rock businessman and friend of Bill Clinton, Charles "Charlie" Yah Lin Trie, gives Michael Cardozo of Clinton's Presidential Legal Expense Trust two manila envelopes containing $460,000 in questionable donations. On April 24th, Mr. Trie returned to Cardozo's office with another $179,000 in questionable contributions. In sworn testimony before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, the executive director of President Clinton's Legal Expense Trust revealed that the fund first consulted with the White House, then purposefully hid from the public information about hundreds of thousands of dollars in questionable donations.

On April 17th, Charlie Trie is appointed to the United States-Pacific Trade and Investment Policy advisory panel.

On June 26th, Clinton's Presidential Legal Expense Trust returns original $460,000 in donations solicited by Charlie Trie after the trust's lawyers hear from their appointed investigators.

On Dec. 16th, six months after the fact, Clinton's legal defense fund announces it had returned $640,000 in contributions delivered on March 21 and April 24, 1996 by Charlie Trie because of the questionable sources of some of the money. The fund never reported the $640,000 from Trie in its semi-annual report.

During Senate investigations into the Democrat fundraising scandal, FBI investigator Jerry Campane testified that he uncovered $1.4 million in wire transfers to Trie from sources in China -- $220,000 of which was contributed in Trie's name. Ng Lap Seng, a.k.a. Mr. Wu, wired at least $900,000 from 1994-96 to Trie -- $72,000 of which ended up in DNC accounts.

Two Chinese immigrants living in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, who were the first donors to testify during the Senate hearings, testified that an associate of Trie's asked them to sign checks totaling $28,000 that ended up in DNC accounts. The two women were consequently reimbursed immediately. The money-laundering scheme was a clear example of the seriousness of the illegal Democrat fundraising scandal.

Mr. Trie has fled the country and The New York Daily News reported on March 21, 1997 that Charlie Trie, traveling the world, has no intention to return to the United States and cooperate with congressional investigators.

If Bill Clinton had nothing to hide, why did he not call on his friends who are hiding out - like Charlie Trie and Mark Middleton - to come forward and tell the truth? If Bill Clinton's legal defense fund had nothing to hide, why did it cook up a plan to keep questionable donations from the public?