[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 64 (Thursday, May 15, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H2779-H2780]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         WHAT ARE THEY HIDING?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Horn] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, this morning I discussed 6 individuals that 
were involved in the activities of the 1996 campaign in raising money 
for the Democratic National Committee. As a member of the Committee on 
Government Reform and Oversight, we have been looking at the activities 
of Webster Hubbell, John Huang, Charlie Trie, James Riady, and Mark 
Middleton, as well as Pauline Kachanalak.
  The White House has stated on a number of occasions that it is fully 
cooperating with our committee subpoenas, but that is simply not true. 
The White House has given us some documents, but they consist mostly of 
highly censored items; the fancy word is redacted. It means they have 
blackened out everything on the page but perhaps one word, and we have 
dozens of copies of that, maybe hundreds. We asked for copies of 
correspondence involving

[[Page H2780]]

these people. We get back newspaper clippings, blank pieces of paper 
and other irrelevancies.
  Mr. Speaker, the White House claims that it needs more time to 
comply, but our first subpoenas with served on March 4; that is over 2 
months ago. Moreover, the first request for documents pertaining to one 
key player, John Huang, were made by former chairman Bill Clinger on 
October 31, 1996, before the election.
  Mr. Speaker, that is roughly 6 months of stalling by the White House, 
and the question has to be asked: What are they hiding? And why does 
the Whitehouse not want us to see any information about these 6 
individuals?
  Mr. Speaker, the first of these players is well known to all of us. 
Web Hubbell worked with Mrs. Clinton at the Rose law firm in Arkansas. 
After the 1992 election, Hubbell became the Number 3 man in the United 
States Department of Justice. In March 1994 Hubbell suddenly resigned 
from the Justice Department. In December of 1994 he plead guilty to tax 
evasion and defrauding his clients of nearly a half a million dollars, 
and he served a year and a half in jail. We have recently discovered 
that key people in the White House, such as former chief of staff Mack 
McLarty and Erskine Bowles, current chief of staff, solicited 
employment for Hubbell after his resignation which garnered him at 
least a half million dollars including $100,000 from a company run by 
the Riady family. We have also recently read in published reports that 
the President's personal lawyer and a close friend from Arkansas knew 
that Hubbell's problems were of a criminal nature. In contrast, the 
Clintons have maintained that they knew nothing about the seriousness 
of the charges against Hubbell until he plead guilty in December.
  Is there a connection between top administration officials 
orchestrating an effort to get Web Hubbell lucrative employment and 
Hubbell's refusal to cooperate with the independent counsel's 
Whitewater investigation? In the words of a prominent New York Times 
columnist, A.M. Rosenthal, quote, it would not take a particularly 
suspicious mind, let alone a prosecutor's to see high paying jobs as 
hush money to keep a defendant silent, unquote from the May 6 issue of 
the New York Times. Mr. Hubbell has invoked the fifth amendment and 
refuses to cooperate with the committee.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people deserve a full airing of this issue 
in open public hearings. Who are the Riadys and why are we seeking to 
obtain documents concerning them from the White House? Mochtar Riady 
and his son James controlled the $5 billion Lippo group empire. Lippo 
was John Huang's employer. Lippo has very strong ties to many countries 
in Asia including China, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Banking tycoon, 
James Riady, has known the President since the late 1970s when he was 
working in an Arkansas bank. James Riady cemented his friendship in the 
1992 Presidential elections by giving at least $700,000 to the 
Democratic National Committee, its State affiliates, the inaugural 
committee and other soft money venues.

                              {time}  2145

  After the 1992 election, James Riady returned to Indonesia, but kept 
up his visibility with the President by visiting the White House at 
least 20 times in the next 4 years. James Riady was present at the 
following crucial meetings at the White House:
  On June 23, 1994, James Riady was present at the meeting with the 
President and John Huang. Soon after, John Huang was appointed to the 
Commerce Department in a key position by the President. That same day, 
James Riady had lunch with Mr. Hubble.
  Mr. Speaker, we need the information to clarify these relationships 
and see if criminal activity has occurred, and I hope in the following 
days to get into more detail on each of these individuals.
  Soon after, Hubbell is hired by one of the Riady-controlled Lippo 
companies and paid $100,000.
  According to published reports it is at this same time that Webb 
Hubbell stopped cooperating with the independent counsel.
  On September 13, 1994, James Riady is again at the White House 
meeting with the President and John Huang. At this meeting, it is 
decided that John Huang will leave his job at the Commerce Department 
and become vice chairman of finance at the Democratic National 
Committee.
  What role did the Riadys play in the decisionmaking at the White 
House? Was the money they paid Webb Hubbell a factor in his decision 
not to cooperate with the independent counsel and to what degree was 
the President involved?
  The American people have a right to know.

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