Following the Money Trail

WASHINGTON, D.C.: FBI agent Jerry Campane told the Senate campaign finance panel that Charlie Trie, a restaurant owner in Arkansas, had dipped into a $905,000 payment from a business partner in Asia known as Mr. Wu to reimburse himself for a $220,000 donation he made to the DNC, and to pay back other associates who made similar contributions. Since the money originated from a foreign source and disguised the name of the real contributor, the contributions may have been illegal. Did the money come from the Chinese government? Hard to say, since Trie and his partner have refused to cooperate, but both have close ties to Beijing. It was Trie who brought an infamous Chinese arms dealer to the White House. Mr. Wu currently serves the People's Consultative Congress, a group that advises the Chinese Communist party as well as the government.