It was an audacious foreign plot to influence an American presidential election and gain

access to the White House.

Electronic intercepts picked up details of the plot, alarming FBI agents, and prompting

the Justice Department to open up a classified, counterintelligence investigation.

No, we're not talking about the Russian operation to interfere in the 2016 election.

We're talking about another foreign intelligence operation, more than 20 years ago by the

People's Republic of China.

On February 13, 1997, the Washington Post's Bob Woodward broke the story.

Chinese Embassy role in contributions probed read the headline.

Sensitive intelligence information, Woodward and co-author Brian Duffy reported, shows that

the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. was used for planning contributions to the Democratic

National Committee as part of an extensive effort to influence Bill Clinton's White House

in its policies towards China.

Although the details at that point were sketchy, the post story identified a number of characters,

including a little rock restaurant tour named Charlie Tree and a Democratic Party fundraiser

named John Wong, who had soon become top targets of Justice Department and Congressional

investigations.

As we await the release of Robert Mueller's report into Russia's meddling during the 2016

election, and we learn new details about some odd Chinese characters who manage to

get access to President Trump's home in Mar-a-Largo, we'll look back for some historical

context at the Chinese fundraising scandal of the 1990s on this episode of Barry Treasure.

Because people have got to know whether or not they're President of CROC, well, I'm

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