Judge Rules Huang Must Testify About Donations

In a potentially damaging development for the Democratic Party eight days before the presidential election, a federal judge ruled Monday that a reclusive Democratic fund-raiser must face wide-ranging questioning when he testifies today in a civil suit.

The fund-raiser, John Huang of Los Angeles, has been at the center of a controversy over his solicitation of hundreds of thousands of dollars that may have violated or skirted the prohibition on foreign contributions to American political campaigns.

In a four-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth said that although Huang’s testimony will be taken behind closed doors, attorneys for the conservative legal organization pressing the suit may videotape the session and make it public immediately upon its conclusion.

Lamberth’s ruling stemmed from a freedom-of-information action filed against the Commerce Department two years ago by Judicial Watch, a nonprofit conservative group seeking documents on overseas missions in which the late Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown and others sought foreign buyers for American goods.

Huang was not part of Judicial Watch’s original suit, but because of his recent notoriety he was added to a list of people the group wanted to question in connection with trade missions that Brown led. Before resigning in December to work for the Democratic National Committee, Huang had been deputy assistant commerce secretary for international economic affairs.

Larry Klayman, Judicial Watch’s chief attorney, said he wanted to determine if the overseas trips were designed in part to obtain foreign financial support for the Democratic Party. Brown, who was killed in a plane crash in Bosnia in April, was formerly head of the DNC.

Huang’s attorney, John C. Keeney Jr., argued in court that the scheduled deposition was “highly political,” as proven by Klayman’s intention to videotape the session and immediately make the tape public. Keeney contended that the deposition should be kept confidential until a later trial.

Klayman, who told the judge that the questioning of Huang was “a matter of significant public interest,” is an avowed supporter of GOP challenger Bob Dole and has strongly opposed Huang’s efforts to delay his sworn statement until after next week’s election.

Following the judge’s ruling, Klayman said: “The attempt by Mr. Huang and the Democratic Party to limit his deposition and keep it secret is part of the overall effort of the Clinton administration to avoid addressing issues related to ethics.”

Keeney had annoyed the judge in refusing to disclose Huang’s whereabouts since he was suspended from fund-raising activities earlier this month after disclosure of his questionable solicitations.

His silence on Huang’s whereabouts had prevented federal marshals from subpoenaing him to testify. However, under pressure from Lamberth, Keeney and the Democratic committee agreed Friday to make him available for questioning this week.

A number of large contributions that Huang obtained from Asian businesses or individuals turned out to be either illegal or of questionable propriety. They included $450,000 from an Indonesian couple, $250,000 from a South Korean company and $140,000 from a gathering at a Hacienda Heights Buddhist temple. Some of the money has been returned.

Lamberth, in rejecting Keeney’s arguments to limit Huang’s interrogation, said Klayman may ask him about 1996 fund-raising activities as well as his work for the Commerce Department in 1994 and 1995. Huang had been a top official in the United States for the Indonesia-based Lippo Group.

Lamberth, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, is an unabashed conservative Republican known for his distaste for bureaucratic delays.