The Scandal That Never Ends
Charlie Trie’s new bombshell.

June 25, 2001 5:20 p.m.

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ah Lin "Charlie" Trie, a key figure in the Clinton-era campaign-finance scandal, told Justice Department investigators that he gave Clinton aide Mark Middleton two payments of $10,000 — each in $100 bills — during Middleton's tenure in the White House, according to documents recently released to a House committee. Through his lawyer, Middleton denied the allegation.

The documents are known as "302" reports, which are the forms on which FBI agents make notes during investigative interviews. The newly released 302's concern the FBI's questioning of Trie between June and October of 1999. While heavily censored copies of the documents have been released before, they did not contain the information about the alleged payoffs.

Trie, who contributed heavily to the Democratic National Committee, told investigators he considered Middleton a good contact because Middleton "knew everybody" in the Clinton White House. In return for his contributions, Trie enjoyed significant access to the White House; for example, in June 1994, Trie brought Macao businessman Ng Lap Seng — who supplied some of the money that Trie contributed — to the White House for lunch with Middleton. Later, Trie said that Middleton had arranged for him to attend a private reception with Bill Clinton during a November, 1994 presidential trip to Indonesia — a favor for which Trie was extremely grateful.

Trie told FBI investigators that he believed Middleton was financially strapped. According to the report, Trie said Middleton "had expressed concern about his finances and future employment opportunities after leaving the White House." Trie also told investigators that Middleton, as a government employee, "did not make very much money," that Middleton's apartment was "small, underground, and not very nice," and that Middleton drove an old car.

Trie said that on six or eight occasions he loaned his car — a Mercedes — to Middleton. Trie told the FBI that shortly before Christmas, 1994 — not long after the Indonesia reception — Middleton came to Trie's apartment in the Watergate complex to borrow Trie's car. During that meeting, according to the FBI report:

Trie handed Middleton $10,000 in $100 denominations. The bills were not in an envelope. He believes he thanked Middleton for his help. Middleton looked surprised and seemed reluctant to accept the money. Middleton asked Trie what the money was for and Trie responded something like, "This is for all the help." Middleton accepted the cash from Trie. This was the first of two $10,000 cash payments Trie made to Middleton while Middleton was still employed by the White House...

A few weeks later, according to Trie, Middleton again came to the Watergate. Trie says he gave Middleton another $10,000, again in $100 bills. "Middleton did not seem surprised to receive the second $10,000," the report says.

"According to Trie," the report continues, "his primary reason for paying Middleton was to continue getting into the White House, and the secondary reason was so Middleton would introduce him to business people." Trie also said he paid Middleton in appreciation for helping him attend the Clinton reception in Indonesia. Trie says Middleton never asked him for money.

Later in 1995, Trie told investigators, he made one last $10,000 payment to Middleton, who had by that time left the White House. Trie said the money was intended to pay for Middleton to visit Macao, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China on a business trip.

Trie says he was given the cash to pay Middleton by Ng Lap Seng, and that the money came from a large amount of cash that Ng brought to the United States from Asia. During the course of the campaign-finance probe, congressional investigators discovered that Ng brought more than $300,000 in cash to this country between 1994 and 1996.

The new information has raised eyebrows among Republican investigators on the House Government Reform Committee, who are now trying to find out if the Justice Department followed up on Trie's information. "We can't come up with anybody [at the Justice Department] who can remember whether or not Middleton was called back for a second interview after these allegations," says a committee source. "It certainly raises our level of concern with the investigation." At a committee hearing in August, 1999, Middleton refused to testify, citing his Fifth Amendment rights on 28 occasions.

Middleton, who now runs an international-consulting business based in Little Rock, Arkansas, was never charged with any wrongdoing. Today, his lawyer, Robert Luskin, said that Trie's allegations are "absolutely false." "Mark never, ever, accepted any money from any source outside of his salary from the White House," Luskin said. Luskin added that Middleton "was fully cooperative" with the Justice Department investigation.