By Larry Klayman
WND
April 11, 2019
During the late 1990s, while I was chairman and general counsel of Judicial Watch, I triggered the now infamous Chinagate scandal, where President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton not only allegedly illegally sold seats on Commerce Department trade missions, most particularly to China, for large campaign contributions and other government perks, but also had implanted in the department to run those trade missions a person of Chinese origin, John Huang, who was alleged and believed to be an agent of Beijing. Huang, who had previously worked for the Riady family and its Lippo Bank — both of whom had close ties to the Chinese Politburo — was placed there allegedly as a favor to the Riadys for having generously financed in part Bill Clinton’s political campaigns as governor of Arkansas and later the presidency.
At the time, this scandal, covered even by Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, was thought to be on the scale of the famous Teapot Dome scandal involving another of our ethically challenged presidents, Warren G. Harding, and similar allegations of bribery inside his administration. As a result of the public uproar, Congress was compelled to commence so-called bipartisan “campaign finance hearings,” and an independent counsel, Daniel Pearson, a Miami lawyer, was appointed to investigate and, if crimes were uncovered, bring charges. This Clinton scandal became known as “Chinagate.”
See also: MOORE/PAINE — Wading Through the Swamp with Larry Klayman