Democrats Sought To Raise $7 Million From Asians - Dec. 28, 1996
White House Was Worried About Offending Trust Fund Donors - Dec. 23, 1996
Trie Visited White House Dozens Of Times - Dec. 18, 1996
Heading South, Clinton Leaves Fund-raising Questions
By Jill Dougherty/CNN
HILTON HEAD, S.C. (Dec. 30) -- President Clinton and his family are back at Hilton Head island for their 13th year at "Renaissance Weekend." It's a made-to-order setting for a president with an inexhaustible appetite for golf and talk.
And, for a president beginning his second term under fire on ethical issues, this annual get-away has two seminars he might find particularly interesting: "Moral Compasses For Modern Leaders" and "Intelligence And Leadership."
Clinton temporarily leaves behind a mushrooming story of questionable Democratic fund-raising among Asian-Americans.
The latest revelation is that Charlie Trie, Clinton friend and international businessman, reportedly was a follower of Ching Hai, the Taiwanese head of a religious sect that has evolved into a financial empire.
Just two weeks ago it was disclosed that Trie collected $640,000 for the Clinton defense fund. Much of the money came from Ching Hai's followers and has been returned because the fund's lawyers couldn't verify the source.
According to a California newspaper, Ching Hai confirmed Sunday that her followers "asked me if they can help Clinton, if it's political motivation or not, and I say, OK, just help quietly, don't blow trumpet about it."
More details are emerging as well from a stack of 7,000 documents released by the Democratic National Committee, most of them from the files of DNC fund-raiser, John Huang.
They reveal a major DNC strategy to raise an unprecedented $7 million among Asian-Americans by offering large donors special access to the president and White House events.
But the White House denies any of those meetings resulted in changes to U.S. policy. White House special counsel Lanny Davis said, "Other people are welcome here who aren't supporters. [Clinton] speaks on the issues inside the White House the same way he does outside the White House."
The White House maintains it had no role in any DNC fund-raising. But one expert calls that "passing the buck." Political analyst Allan Lichtman said, "Of course the DNC is not formally a part of the Clinton Administration, but it is nonetheless a creature of the Clinton Adminstration. They should cease the fiction that the DNC is somehow independent from the president and the Democrats."
But for now the president and the first lady can catch up with old friends and ring in the New Year here at "Renaissance Weekend." Then they take off for another short vacation in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
This story originally appeared on CNN's "Inside Politics."