First Lady’s Chief Aide Took Donation at White House

White House officials acknowledged Wednesday that First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton’s chief of staff, acting in accordance with administration policy, personally took a political donation from California businessman Johnny Chien Chuen Chung at the White House in 1995.

Although federal law bars government employees from accepting political donations on public property, White House communications director Ann Lewis insisted that the first lady’s top aide, Maggie Williams, did not violate the law by taking the check from Chung.

In 1994, according to Lewis, the administration revised the federal regulations that govern these procedures to allow a government official to accept a political check as long as it is forwarded immediately to a political party.

In essence, the new regulations say that taking a contribution from a donor and passing it along does not constitute “accepting” or “receiving” as defined by the Hatch Act.

The new regulations cited by Lewis came as a surprise to some legal experts.

“The White House is completely wrong; it is totally improper,” former U.S. Atty. Joseph DiGenova, a Republican, told NBC News. “It is illegal to receive federal campaign funds on property at the White House or at the Executive Office Building.”

Whether the regulations are in keeping with the Hatch Act, which has long barred acceptance of political checks on federal property, Williams’ admission certainly demonstrates that Clinton’s White House staff was more deeply involved in political fund-raising than any previous administration. It is also expected to further fuel the controversy over aggressive fund-raising by the president’s closest aides, including Vice President Al Gore.

Lewis said she did not know how often Clinton aides have accepted political contributions and forwarded them to the Democratic Party, as Williams did. But she said that Williams followed standard practice in the Clinton White House.

“The act of handling and forwarding the contribution does not violate the Hatch Act,” she said.

Lewis said Williams does not recall the details of her encounter with Chung, except that Williams remembers fowarding the check to “the proper recipient.” NBC reported that Chung handed a $50,000 check for the DNC to Williams on March 9, 1995, when Chung brought a group of Chinese officials to have their pictures taken with Mrs. Clinton.

Chung, a Taiwanese American who lives in Torrance, made at least 49 visits to the White House between early 1994 and last June. He also contributed $366,000 to the Democratic Party last year, but the money was recently returned on grounds that he had provided “insufficient information” about the sources of the funds.

Gregory S. Walden, who served as a White House lawyer during the Bush administration and is now a Washington attorney specializing in government ethics issues, said previous presidents interpreted the law to mean that White House aides are barred from accepting any checks whatsoever from political contributors.

He said Bush’s aides were instructed to never accept a political contribution. Whenever checks were received in the mail, he said, they were sent to the Justice Department, which investigated the circumstances under which they arrived at the White House.

On most of his trips to the White House, Chung brought with him dozens of Chinese guests. Chung and his guests were welcomed into the Executive Mansion even though White House officials had cautioned that he was using his connections to the president to strike questionable business deals overseas.

In a memo written in April 1995, shortly after Chung handed the donation to Williams, Robert L. Suettinger, a National Security Council expert on Asian affairs, described Chung as “a hustler.”