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| For Immediate Release | |
| Oct 14, 1997 | Contact: Press Office 202-646-5172 |
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Despite Stalling Tactics Judicial Watch Forces Disclosure of Videos to American Public In its now famous lawsuit against the Clinton Commerce Department -- which a year ago uncovered John Huang and sparked the campaign finance scandal -- Judicial Watch has now won the release of videotapes taken on Ron Brown's various trade missions. Coming at a time when videotapes have been discovered of White House coffees, the videotapes of Clinton Commerce Department trade missions should provide even a greater insight into the fundraising practices of the Clinton Administration. In its lawsuit, and based on documents found in the files of then Deputy White House Counsel, Harold Ickes, seats on official trade missions were clearly sold to campaign contributors to the Democratic Party and Clinton-Gore campaign. This is a clearcut violation of 18 U.S.C. 600 of the U.S. Criminal Code. Conveniently, in issuing her letter effectively exonerating the President and others of wrongdoing, Attorney General Reno did not address the illegal sale of seats on trade missions, which cost the U.S. taxpayer millions of dollars. The sale of seats on these trade missions is not "mere access," but instead a felony. But more importantly, as pointed out during an interview with Nolanda Hill, the business partner and girlfriend of Ron Brown, what is even more key is what went on during the trade missions. For instance, during a trip to China, Brown and several John Huang colleagues put together a deal between the Communist Chinese government, Entergy Corporation (a longtime Clinton supporter) and Huang's Lippo Group. Accordingly to the deposition of Ira Sockowitz, the Commerce attorney who inexplicably reviewed the commercial terms of the deal (government lawyers should have no interest in this), and admittedly took secret national security satellite documents out of the Department without authorization and deposited them in a safe at the Small Business Adminstration, he also went on this trade mission with Brown and other Huang confidantes, such as Melinda Yee (the Commerce official who admits to destroying notes she took on this mission), and Ginger Lew, the previous Commerce General Counsel who Sockowitz joined at the SBA after he left his job at the Department. In addition, Charlie Trie also attended the trade mission to China. During this mission, Brown and these individuals met frequently with Communist Chinese government officials, and satellite telecommunications were discussed. In short, " the videos of the Brown/Clinton Commerce Department trade missions could provide crucial insight into the illegal trade missions. A picture is worth a thousand words.", stated Judicial Watch Chairman Larry Klayman. Despite its stalling efforts, Judicial Watch expects the Clinton Adminstration to release the tapes this week. If this does not occur, Judicial Watch will seek immediate court intervention, such as occurred last October when John Huang evaded service of a subpoena and U.S. Marshalls had to be called upon to track him down in a nationwide "manhunt." |
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