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- Chung says DNC "Should Be Ashamed"
11 May, 1999
By Bruce Sullivan
Conservative News Service Staff Writer
Capitol Hill (CNS) – In a scathing indictment of the Democratic National Committee, a California businessman, the only witness to testify before a Congressional committee investigating possible illegal contributions to the Clinton-Gore campaign, said that the DNC took his contributions, "With a smile and then made fun of me when I turned my back."
Testifying before the House Government Reform Committee, Johnny Chung, the only witness out of 121 who either did not plead the Fifth Amendment or flee the country, told Members that he funneled money for high-ranking Chinese officials to the DNC during the 1996 reelection campaign of President Clinton.
"Mr. Chung is something very rare for this committee," said committee Chairman Dan Burton (R-IN) in his opening remarks. "A cooperative witness." Burton and other Members of Congress have long sought Chung's testimony, in an effort to piece together the facts surrounding the trail of money that made its way from the Chinese government to the Clinton-Gore campaign during the 1996 election cycle.
Chung was highly critical of the American political system, which he said "allows illegal contributions," including the $300,000 he received from the high ranking Chinese General Ji Sheng De, the head of China's military intelligence agency. That contribution was returned by the DNC to Chung after federal investigators questioned its legality.
Chung told the committee he believed the "DNC was certainly not aware of my connection with General Ji."
Before telling the committee his tale of how he immigrated to the America in 1983 and rose from a bus boy at a Holiday Inn to socializing with the President of the United States, he admonished politicians in general for not reforming the political system. "Look to yourself and ask if you want to do something," he said. "You have the power to be heroes or hypocrites."
In his opening remarks on Tuesday, Chung said that between 1994 and 1996 he received over $2 million from Chinese sources but only 20 percent was funneled to political contributions or for political issues. The rest, Chung testified, was used for his business and for expenses.