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From the AP GOP Demands Independent Counsel (Oct. 15) From The Post Poll: Public Favors Independent Counsel (Oct. 15) Reno to Lengthen Probe (Oct. 15) White House Releases More Tapes By James Rowley Associated Press Writer Wed., Oct. 15, 1997; 8:28 p.m. EDT WASHINGTON (AP) – With the veil lifted on nearly 100 hours of his fund-raising videotapes, President Clinton was shown Wednesday fraternizing with controversial Democratic donors and candidly acknowledging he benefited from ads that weren't supposed to directly help his campaign. In the Washington version of a movie premiere, Republican investigators huddled in their offices across the Capitol scouring the tapes for evidence of fund-raising wrongdoings while reporters got their own narrated screening at the White House. The long-sought tapes, which only recently turned up, show Clinton alongside Charlie Trie, John Huang, Pauline Kanchanalak and other Democratic fund-raisers whose activities in the last election thrust their party into controversy. In one clip among the 158 events detailed on the tapes, Clinton is shown hailing Huang as ``my good friend.'' In another, he reminisces with donors about his two-decade friendship with Trie, an Arkansas restaurateur turned Washington fund-raiser. ``Soon it will be 20 years since I had my first meal with Charlie Trie,'' Clinton said to a hotel room full of donors on May, 13, 1996. ``At the time, neither one of us could afford the ticket to this dinner.'' Just months later, the Democratic Party would be forced to return $3 million in donations – most of it raised by Huang or Trie -- because of concerns the money came from foreign or other improper sources. Trie left the country and Huang has cited his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to be interviewed by investigators. Most of the footage released Wednesday involved fund-raising events at hotels and other traditional settings and shed little light on a central question being posed by Justice Department and congressional investigators: Was the White House illegally used to raise money? But one clip immediately garnered attention – a May 21, 1996, dinner for Democratic donors inside the White House. The tape shows Clinton telling the audience that ``many of you have been very generous, I thank you for it.'' He follows with a veiled pitch for their continued support. ``This thing could get away from us in a hurry,'' Clinton said. ``It's very important to remember that the 20th century has not been kind to Democratic presidents.'' Federal law prohibits soliciting donors in government offices. White House special counsel Lanny Davis, who presided over the White House showing of the tapes to reporters, said Clinton did not make an explicit appeal like the one captured on a recently surfaced videotape of President Reagan asking supporters for help inside the White House. ``The president says `thank you.' He didn't say `I ask your help' as Ronald Reagan did at a White House event,'' Davis said. Many in attendance at the events on the tapes were ``soft money'' givers whose donations to the party can be unlimited in size but cannot be used directly to assist a federal candidate such as Clinton. At the time, the party was using soft money to run a massive ad campaign to define issues. At the May White House event, however, Clinton credits the ads for benefiting his own campaign. ``The fact that we have been able to finance this long-running television campaign where we have been always framing the issues ... has been central to the position I now enjoy in the polls,'' Clinton told donors. One area that congressional investigators are now probing is whether the White House directed the soft-money ad campaign to benefit Clinton despite the legal prohibition. Davis said the Democratic Party ads were ``absolutely legal'' because they didn't expressly advocate Clinton's re-election. ``Our ads were vetted by lawyers,'' he said. Other footage shows Clinton attending an Asian-American fund-raiser on Feb. 19, 1996, at the Hay-Adams hotel in Washington -- an event at which Republican investigators allege donors were reimbursed with foreign money. ``I'd like to thank my longtime friend John Huang for being so effective,'' Clinton tells the audience. ``Frankly, he's been so effective I was amazed you were all cheering for him tonight after ... his aggressive efforts to help our cause. '' The president greeted supporters and well-wishers with hugs and handshakes. He put his arm around Huang after the taping of one radio address. At another, the president gave fund-raiser Johnny Chung a big hug before being introduced to a delegation of Chinese businessmen. Clinton aides converted a fourth-floor auditorium in the Old Executive Office Building into a screening room for reporters, who watched segments of the tapes that were turned over to congressional committees and the Justice Department Tuesday night. Another batch was being sent Wednesday. ``The popcorn stand is open in the back,'' quipped Davis. Down Pennsylvania Avenue, Senate investigators provided their own showing of tapes that they found significant. One clip had fund-raiser Terence McAuliffe telling donors at a May 1993 White House reception that it was the reward for their donations to an earlier fund-raiser that had been canceled at a Little Rock, Ark., hotel. ``We're glad we did not ask for our checks back because, no offense to Little Rock, but this sure beats the Little Rock Excelsior,'' McAuliffe is shown saying. Only 28 of the events on the tapes occurred inside the White House. In some of those, Clinton could be seen lecturing on the history of the ceremonial rooms they visited. In the Green Room, he showed guests George Caleb Bingham's 1846 painting of a raft on the Mississippi River and in the Blue Room pointed out ``my favorite'' portrait of Thomas Jefferson. The production of the tapes this week was the second this month by the White House, and was prompted by the belated discovery that presidential aides had videotaped Clinton's controversial coffees with donors during the last election. Davis acknowledged mistakes in the massive search that located the tapes. And he cautioned that the White House still ``can't guarantee we found everything.'' © Copyright 1997 The Associated Press Back to the top Go to Campaign Finance Report | Go to Politics Section