WaPo's Robert Woodward reported in 1997 that DOJ "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 campaign"
washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politic…
And there's this from the New Yorker at that same time. Nora & Eugene Lum were the parents of Nickie Mali Lum Davis, recently in the news on a certain China matter. newyorker.com/magazine/1997/…
Woodward's 1997 WaPo report provides context to @lincolnproject: "The Chinese effort to win influence with the Clinton administration can be traced to 1993 .... During the Reagan and Bush administrations, the Chinese government felt comfortable dealing with Washington."
Woodward nailed the Bush-Beijing faction of the Republican Party back in 1997, and how the CCP needed to buy the Clintons: "During the 1992 presidential campaign, authorities in Beijing spoke openly about wanting Bush to win reelection because he was an 'old friend' of China."
Bob Woodward, 1997: "[Bill] Clinton had criticized the Bush administration during the campaign for 'coddling' Beijing and giving China most-favored-nation trade status after the 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Square."
Woodward: "After [Bill] Clinton defeated Bush [41], Chinese officials were uncertain about how to deal with the new administration, officials said, even though as president, Clinton essentially adopted the Bush policy toward Beijing...."
Woodward, 1997: "The Chinese Foreign Ministry has long urged the leadership in Beijing to increase its lobbying efforts in Washington, arguing that China has lagged behind Taiwan and Israel in trying to influence U.S. policy."
Woodward: "Some investigators suspected a Chinese connection to the current fund-raising scandal because several DNC contributors and major fund-raisers had ties to Beijing."
Woodward: "Another reason investigators suspected a Chinese connection was the role of John Huang, a former Commerce Department official and DNC fund-raiser....Huang was given a top-secret clearance at Commerce after what Republicans have called a lax background investigation..."
Woodward: "Huang retained his top-secret clearance after he left the Commerce Department to become a DNC vice chairman in December 1995.
...Huang was scheduled to attend 37 intelligence briefings, including briefings on China, and saw more than two dozen intelligence reports."
Huang pled guilty to "felony conspiracy" charges relating to campaign finance violations. He got off with a year of probation. cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/st…
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