[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 82 (Thursday, June 12, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H3791]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  INVESTIGATION OF DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE FUND-RAISING EFFORTS

  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, Members might recall that a few weeks ago I 
discussed some of the participants in the investigation that is about 
to be undergone by the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. We 
talked about Web Hubble, we talked about the Riadys, we talked about a 
number of people.
  Today I want to talk about some of the remaining individuals. Mr. 
Huang has come up. Mr. Huang has refused to work with the committee in 
this investigation. Here is Mr. Huang. His former employer, Mr. Riady, 
no longer lives here. We have no alternative but to ask the White House 
to produce the documents concerning him. They have produced some 
documents, grudgingly at each step of the way. Those documents are now 
being analyzed by staff.
  The basic principle here is the American people have the right to 
know what happened in the fall of 1996 in terms of campaign money being 
delivered to various candidates in the Democratic National Committee 
and others from foreign sources that violate existing law.
  At one Democratic National Committee fundraiser Charlie Trie, who is 
from Little Rock, AR, Mr. Trie was a restaurateur, a close friend of 
the President as Governor, and he became a Democratic National 
Committee fundraiser and raised more than $100,000 for the party, which 
the Democratic National Committee has returned. He also contributed 
$640,000 to the President's legal defense fund. That money was later 
returned. Mr. Trie has left the country. He is rumored to be in China.
  I do not know if this would ever work in China, but for missing 
people in America it has been helpful for young children. This is Mr. 
Trie. Maybe that is what we have to do is talk to the Chinese about 
seeing what we do to find Mr. Trie on milk bottle caps and tops. What 
his role was and whether or not he was a conduit passing money from the 
Chinese, we do not know completely yet. All White House documents 
concerning him are obviously absolutely crucial to this investigation. 
Again, the American people have a right to know.
  Mark Middleton, who we have in the other chart, was a friend of the 
President's from Arkansas. He also met John Huang and Charlie Trie 
there. Mr. Middleton, who has taken the fifth, is there. He raised $4 
million for the Clinton campaign in 1992 in Arkansas. After the 
election he came to work in the White House as a Presidential aide and 
business community liaison for then-Chief of Staff Mack McLarty.
  Middleton was a key go-between at the White House, meeting frequently 
at the White House with Charlie Trie, John Huang, and Pauline 
Kanchanalak. After Middleton left the White House in 1995 to start up 
his own consulting business, he was a frequent visitor to the White 
House, and even retained his White House voice mail for 1\1/2\ years 
after his White House position had ended. That is, of course, the 
lobbyist advocate's dream.
  Mr. Middleton's outside business specializes in deals between the 
United States and Asian businesses. Mr. Middleton has invoked the fifth 
amendment, and refuses to testify. What does he know about the foreign 
sources of the campaign money that has amounted to millions of dollars? 
The American people have a right to know.
  Who is Pauline Kanchanalak? She is from Thailand, married into a 
prominent Thai family. She and her sister-in-law contributed more than 
$560,000 to the Democratic National Committee and the affiliated State 
parties in 1996, of which the DNC, Democratic National Committee, has 
pledged to return $235,000. She was a frequent visitor to the White 
House and brought three representatives of a large Thai business 
conglomerate to one White House fund-raising coffee hosted by the 
President.
  On at least two occasions Pauline has been identified as part of the 
Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand's official party, including once as 
an adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister. She and John Huang created the 
United States-Thai Business Council. President Clinton attended the 
grand opening. She has left the country and is believed to be in 
Thailand.
  What was her role in fundraising? Did she also funnel money from a 
foreign government to the Democratic National Committee? The American 
people have a right to know.
  Here we have six people, three of whom I have concentrated on today. 
They have invoked the fifth. They have left the country. It is crucial 
that we get the records. It is crucial that the American people learn 
what happened.

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