White House defends RI's ties to Clinton
White House defends RI's ties to Clinton
WASHINGTON (Reuter): The White House on Friday defended the
propriety of President Bill Clinton's ties to a wealthy
Indonesian family that has made big contributions to the
Democratic Party and Clinton's inaugural committee.
Several U.S. news organisations have raised questions about
the United States business operations of the billionaire Riady
family, its connections with the Clinton administration and its
contributions to Clinton's political causes.
But White House spokesman Mike McCurry told reporters at his
daily news briefing that suggestions that the family's support of
Clinton was improper bordered on an ethnic slur.
"This family is a prominent family in Little Rock. One of the
members of the family lived there for some time and had extensive
commercial dealings in the city itself. They got to know people
within the community," McCurry said.
No surprise
McCurry said James Riady, a 39-year-old businessman who lives
in Jakarta, got to know Clinton when he was Arkansas governor
"and the fact that they became friendly and are among his
supporters should come as no surprise."
The New York Times reported on Friday that Riady and his wife
gave at least $175,000 to the Democratic Party and the Clinton
Inaugural Committee. Federal records show they were legal
immigrants living in the United States at the time.
U.S. election laws allow foreigers to contribute to political
parties as long as they are legally residing in this country.
The Times quoted family associates as saying that their
financial support helped the Riady family place the former head
of their U.S. business operations, an American citizen, in an
influential trade job in the Clinton administration.
Questions have also arisen about the Riady's hiring of former
associate Attorney General Webb Hubbell, a one-time Arkansas law
partner of Hillary Rodham Clinton, as a paid consultant after he
resigned from the Justice Department.
Hubbell, now serving time in jail on charges of bilking his
former law partners and clients, testified before the Senate that
he was on retainer for a Riady affiliate until he pleaded guilty
to two felony counts in late 1994.
The Times also wrote that in 1994, at a conference in Jakarta,
Indonesia, that including China's Jiang Zemin, President Clinton
surprised U.S. Embassy officials by holding a private meeting
with James Riady. "This duly impressed Asian leaders who put
great weight on connections in high places.
"Clinton's foreign contributors are coming through for him in
this campaign. Does Hubbell.. expect to be sprung before his
time? Will he then be made financially whole by the Clinton
Asian connection?" the daily wrote further.