« As a foreign national, the official wasn’t legally qualified to make the $50,000-a-plate donation »
Dianne Feinstein – vice chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a ranking member on the Senate Intel Committee, was an « easy mark » for the Chinese spy who operated within her inner-circle for two decades, reports journalist Paul Sperry in the New York Post.
A Chinese-American who doubled as both an office staffer and Feinstein’s personal driver, the agent reportedly was handled by officials based out of the People’s Republic of China’s consulate in San Francisco, which Feinstein helped set up when she was mayor of that city. He even attended consulate functions for the senator. – New York Post
According to Feinstein, the staffer was fired « immediately » after the FBI warned her five years ago that Chinese intelligence had infiltrated her office. Feinstein claims he had « no access to sensitive information » and that he was never charged with espionage.
That said – FBI officials warned Feinstein in June of 1996, after the staffer began working for her, that the agency had detected efforts by the Chinese government to seek favor with the Senator – possibly in the form of illegal and laundered campaign contributions. Feinstein was on the East Asian and Pacific affairs subcommittee of the Foreign Relations Committee at the time.
That warning was right on the money, notes Sperry:
One Chinese bagman, Nanping-born John Huang, showed up at Feinstein’s San Francisco home for a fundraising dinner with a Beijing official tied to the People’s Bank of China and the Communist Party Committee.
