Trie Only Made ‘U-Turn’ on Campaign Donations, He Says

WASHINGTON — Yah Lin “Charlie” Trie, the ex-Arkansas restaurant owner turned illegal fund-raiser, told disbelieving congressional Republicans on Wednesday that he thought he was only making “a U-turn” when he moved hundreds of thousands of dollars from overseas businessmen to the Democratic Party.

He funneled the money through friends and associates because he “didn’t want $100,000 contributions” with his name on them, Trie testified.

Telling his story for the first time in public, Trie delighted Democrats on the House Government Reform Committee by saying he told no one at the White House or the Democratic National Committee that he was reimbursing donors with cash and travelers’ checks from overseas.

“I pleaded guilty” to a felony “because my counsel advised me to; I didn’t know the campaign finance law,” said Trie.

“No,” Trie answered emphatically when the committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Henry A. Waxman of Los Angeles, inquired whether Trie knew what he was doing was illegal.

“If I could say, it’s a U-turn,” Trie said later.

Committee Chairman Dan Burton (R-Ind.) wanted to know why Trie reimbursed the donors instead of making the donations himself.

Bouncing a $50,000 check to the party in 1995 made him very uncomfortable about giving more checks in his own name, answered Trie. He said later that he often didn’t have money in his account at the time of various fund-raising events and so he got others to contribute, reimbursing them later when he was flush with funds.