Need to Know

WASHINGTON, D.C.: One of the weirder moments in the ongoing campaign finance fl ap came Monday when President Clinton told reporters that he never been informed about FBI suspicions that China tried to influence Congress with donations during the 1996 campaigns. In June 1996 the FBI told two officials at the White House National Secu rity Council that China might channel money to Congressional races. Strangely enough, the agency instructed the officials to keep the information to themselves. "I'm told that's not routine," Presidential spokesman Mike McCurry dryly observed. Although Clinton says he didn't know what was going on, plenty of other people did: California Representative Nancy Pelosi says she was first briefed by the FBI about possible Chines manipulations in 1991. At least five other members of Congress we re briefed in June 1996. Senator Barbara Boxer said the FBI gave her a classified report about the Chinese government's desire to gain influence in Washington. In a statement, she said she was "told to be on the alert for any Chinese nationals or r epresentatives of the Chinese government contacting her office in an effort to influence United States foreign policy." Senator Diane Feinstein received a similar classified report. Clinton said that had he known about the briefing, he would have had his aides "evaluate (it) and make recommendations about what, if any, changes we ought to make and what we should be alert to. It would have provoked a red flag on my part." Clinton ordered his top advisors to get to the bottom of why allegat ions of illegal Chinese involvement were not shared with him. The FBI, for its part, had no comment.