ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 3, 1996 TAG: 9612030059
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: WILLIAM SAFIRE
SOURCE: WILLIAM SAFIRE
AS POST-election revelations come spilling out about more illegal fund-raising and many more unrecorded meetings of the Asian Connection in the Clinton White House, the need arises to connect the dots.
The accusation was first made in this space that an Indonesian banking family and its agent, working secretly with longtime Clinton intimates Webster Hubbell and Bruce Lindsey, arranged for apparently unlawful contributions to Clinton campaigns.
In return for these millions in donations and retainers, the foreign bankers (1) gained frequent access to Clinton to argue for trade concessions; (2) achieved appointment of their agent to a top-secret post inside the administration and received weekly phone calls from his Commerce Department office, and (3) used the president's presence on his Asian trips to profit by impressing local politicians with their White House influence.
My charges were parried, pre-election, with a farrago of lies from the White House. Bruce Lindsey was the source of disinformation that James Riady, scion of Indonesia's Lippo empire, had met with Clinton only a few times on ``social visits.'' Not until after the election did we get the admission that Clinton had met Riady at least six times in the White House, plus an unknown number of times privately after fund-raisers outside.
Social visits? After re-election, Clinton admitted discussing foreign trade issues with his Indonesian contributors in the Oval Office, and said he was aware that Riady would take his messages to Indonesia's Suharto. Clinton's benefactor helped end U.S. trade pressure for human rights on Indonesia and China.
What about the suspicion expressed here that John Huang, who had been granted top-secret access to trade negotiation positions at the Commerce Department, may have passed them along to his private masters? Huang's denials were echoed by Secretary of Commerce Mickey Kantor, who insisted to me that Lippo's man was no more than a minor bureaucrat. But now, post-election, we find that the Riadys' man briefed his former Lippo Bank employers at least 70 times in 18 months from his Commerce Department office phone.
Most damning of all is the Sept. 13, 1995, late-afternoon meeting in the Oval Office - federal property. We had Clinton's belated admission that his guests were Riady, Huang, Bruce Lindsey and Little Rock's wheeler-dealer in Asia, Joseph Giroir. He approved Huang's switch from the Commerce Department to the Democratic Finance Committee, where he could best cash in on the favors done for contributors.
Who had guilty knowledge of this influence-peddling, and when? The cover-up crew at the White House, working closely with Democratic counsel on the Senate Whitewater committee, knew that the Lippo Bank connection might be troublesome in June.
According to a then-secret deposition of Bruce Lindsey taken on June 8, the Senate was trying to find out if the Lippo Bank's payments to Web Hubbell just before he pled guilty to fraud were ``hush money.''
Richard Ben-Veniste, Democratic counsel, kept interrupting with ``You're wasting time'' and abusively filibustered, protecting Lindsey from questions about Clinton's Asian connection.
Needed: Independent Counsel for (deep breath) investigation of possible fund solicitation on federal property (Section 607a of the Criminal Code); soliciting funds from foreign nationals (441e); contributions given in the name of another (441f); falsely pretending to be a federal employee (912); representing a client in matters in which accused had substantial participation while in government (207); tampering with a witness (1512); obstruction of proceedings (1505); bribery of selected or former public official (201); failure to register as a foreign agent (22 U.S.C. 618).
And, if done by phone or mail, connect the dots with the infamous Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (18 U.S.C. 1961).
- The New York Times
LENGTH: Medium: 73 linesby CNB