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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Consultant Often Visited White House Ex-Top Aide To Mclarty Met Once With President Associated Press

An international business consultant linked to an allegation concerning a proposed $15 million political contribution from Taiwan met with President Clinton in September and came to the White House 41 times in the past 13 months.

White House spokesman Mike McCurry on Monday disclosed the meeting between Clinton, businessman Mark Middleton, deputy White House counsel Bruce Lindsey and James Riady, a member of a wealthy Indonesian family involved in the growing controversy over foreign-linked political donations.

Middleton - a former top aide to senior Clinton adviser Thomas “Mack” McLarty - made the 41 trips to the White House from September 1995 through Sept. 30 of this year, according to Secret Service logs obtained by the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee.

McCurry said the participants “talked a little … philosophically” about the United States’ posture toward Asia “and then James Riady expressed his support for what the president was doing.”

Lindsey’s recollection is that much of the meeting was a “social visit, a chance to catch up and say hello,” the spokesman said.

Middleton visited the White House four times in September - on the 9th, 25th, 27th and 30th - and it could not immediately be determined which of his meetings was with the president. Middleton left the administration in February 1995.

In interviews with Taiwan’s two leading evening newspapers, businessman Chen Chao-ping has claimed he was present when Liu Tai-ying, the chief financial manager of Taiwan’s ruling Kuomintang Party, offered to Middleton a $15 million donation to Clinton’s re-election effort. Liu flatly denied the accusation.

In a statement last week, Middleton said he has been to Taiwan several times for private business. He said he never suggested he was trying to raise money for the Democrats or any candidate, never solicited contributions and never accepted or arranged any donations from any foreign source.

The revelation about Middleton’s presence at the Clinton meeting came as reporters pressed the White House for details of executive mansion visits by James Riady and Democratic National Committee fund-raiser John Huang, who worked for the Riady family before going to work at the Commerce Department and then joining the DNC staff.