White House Was Worried About Offending Trust Fund Donors - Dec. 23, 1996

Justice To Expand Inquiry To Clinton's Legal Fund - Dec. 19, 1996

The Democratic Fund-Raising Flap

White House Confirms
More Trust Fund Meetings

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Dec. 24) -- The White House has confirmed there were four meetings this year where presidential aides discussed the suspicious donations to Bill and Hillary Clinton's legal defense fund.

Over the weekend, The Associated Press reported on a May 9 meeting where presidential aides gathered to discuss the trust fund, and a concern about offending donors if $460,000 in contributions were returned. Arkansas businessman Charles Yah Lin Trie delivered the money in late March.

The contributions, some in sequentially numbered money orders, were given back in June.

Along with the May meeting, there was a meeting in November and two in December, said an administration official, who described them as "informational." The final session occurred a week before the White House announced it had returned the money.