From: Timothy McCaughan/CNN
In: Washington, D.C.
Posted: 3-27-97

Subject: Nine More Senate Fund-Raising Subpoenas Issued

Senate investigators have issued nine more subpoenas for documents in their ongoing campaign finance investigation bringing the total number of subpoenas issued in the Senate's inquiry to 63.

The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee issued the subpoenas which are directed at organizations and individuals related to the controversy surrounding the fund-raising troubles of the Democrats stemming from the 1996 election.

Subpoenas were issued to Webster Hubbell; the Clinton Birthplace Foundation, Inc.; the Lehman Brothers; Ernest Green; Hue Thi Thanh Wallenstatter; The Ching Hai Meditation Association (San Diego, CA); Suma Ching Hai International Association in San Jose, Calif., and in Los Angeles; and Ching Hai Meditation Association (Westminister, Calif.).

After leaving the Justice Department, and before being convicted for embezzling from clients in his private legal practice, Webster Hubbell was hired by several individuals and companies with close ties to the president and the campaign finance controversy. Investigators are looking into whether the payments to Hubbell were designed to keep him from talking to Whitewater investigators.

Ernest Green, managing director of Lehman Brothers, was a big fund-raiser for the Democrats in 1996, and was involved in making donations to the DNC following a political coffee with the president attended by Wang Jun, a controversial Chinese business executive.

The Ching Hai religious group is considered to be the source of most of the approximately $640,000 that President Clinton's legal defense fund returned over concerns of impropriety. The committee says it believes Hue Thi Thanh Wallenstatter to be the common name of Suma Ching Hai, the leader of the Taiwanese sect. It has been reported that the president's birthplace foundation has received contributions from foreign sources tied to the campaign finance controversy.