John Huang, a former Democratic Committee fund-raiser and Commerce Department official who was deposed by Judicial Watch in 1996 for his involvement in the Chinagate affair, will once again be deposed by the public interest legal organization.
This latest deposition of Huang is scheduled to take place in April in an attempt to uncover what documents, if any, Huang generated while at the Commerce Department. Specifically, Judicial Watch will be looking for clues that might reveal information about Huang’s involvement in the sale of trade mission seats to countries such as China in exchange for campaign contributions. Documents so far have been difficult to obtain, because many of them were shredded, destroyed, disappeared, or otherwise left the Commerce building.
In another deposition by Judicial Watch, Donald Forest, the head of the Commerce Department’s China Desk, gave testimony that no changes have been made in the security procedures for classified materials at Commerce. Judicial Watch questions the lack of interest in updating security procedures at Commerce and wonders if the department learned anything from the Huang experience. Judicial Watch also discovered that satellite encryption data and classified CIA reports on China, Russia, and India improperly left Commerce with Ira Sockowitz, a confidante of Huang.
Judicial Watch questions the apparent lack of concern coming from the Clinton administration concerning security breaches as there has yet to be any substantive investigation by the Justice Department or the Commerce Department on potential national security matters.
Larry Klayman, the president of Judicial Watch, believes the Clinton administration may be looking the other way in regards to the security breaches as part of an implicit political quid pro quo.
“If it weren’t for the government of China, Bill Clinton wouldn’t have been able to raise the funds necessary to become president,” Klayman said. “It is clear that the government of China has bought the Clinton administration.”
Klayman said that Huang’s re-deposition is very important to the Chinagate case because, currently, no other group — including the Justice Department — has questioned Huang about his fund-raising activities, and his relationship with the Chinese-connected Riady family.
