Huang Finally Shows Up For Deposition

WASHINGTON (Oct. 29) -- Democratic fund-raiser John Huang did not want to answer questions. He has been avoiding reporters for weeks, and even left Washington, D.C., after the Democratic National Committee suspended his controversial fund-raising activities.

But now a federal judge has ordered him to answer questions, under oath, in a lawsuit. And this morning Huang showed up, as ordered, to begin testifying.

Huang was surrounded by reporters shouting questions as he arrived in a taxicab with his lawyer to give a deposition at an office building. Huang politely rebuffed them, though.

"No comment, thank you," Huang said.

Lawyers for a conservative watchdog group, Judicial Watch, are questioning him about documents they are trying to get from the Commerce Department, where Huang worked until last year as a senior international trade official.

The judge in the case has limited the scope of the questions to the search for Commerce Department documents. The judge also said Huang's testimony could be videotaped, and the tape could be released later to the news media.

One possible area of questioning is Huang's role in soliciting campaign contributions in Taiwan. Huang made three trips there as a Commerce Department official, then returned for a fourth trip while working for the Democratic National Committee, on what they called a "prospecting" trip for money.

The DNC insists Huang was only looking for contributions from U.S. citizens living in Taiwan, but now the State Department has asked for an investigation of allegations that Taiwanese businessmen were also pressured for donations.

In a related development, the U.S. Justice Department is looking into allegations that James C. Wood, the U.S. envoy to Taiwan, pressured businessmen there to contribute to President Bill Clinton's re-election campaign.

Justice Department spokesman Bert Brandenberg told CNN: "The State Department referred the matter to us and we are reviewing it." He said the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, which looks at claims of election law violations, is reviewing the allegations about Wood, which were first reported in Newsweek. They were referred last June to the inspector general's office of the State Department, which then referred them to Justice.

Brandenberg indicated that at this stage it was a preliminary review to see whether a full-fledged investigation is needed. He said there was no deadline for deciding whether to pursue it further.

One law enforcement source who asked not to be identified noted that in the past, some allegations of election law violations have failed to prove substantial enough to warrant further investigation.

Wood is chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, making him de facto head of the U.S. diplomatic mission there. There is no official U.S. embassy, because the U.S. cut off diplomatic ties to Taiwan in 1979. Wood, a friend of Huang, allegedly approached businessmen living in Taiwan to make contributions. The allegations do not make clear whether these businessmen were Americans or Taiwanese. It would be illegal to solicit campaign funds from non-U.S. citizens.

CNN's Anthony Collings contributed to this report.

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Huang Finally Shows Up For Deposition

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