BY PAUL BARTON
Enquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Glenn is coming under new criticism for downplaying information last year that described a Chinese plan to influence the 1996 presidential race.
In an interview with the Enquirer, Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, said the information Mr. Glenn, D-Ohio, shared access to and downplayed came from the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency.
"He chose not to (support it)," Mr. Thompson said of what the committee learned. "That's his decision to make. I disagree with him."
Mr. Glenn's office denied Friday that the senator had seen any strong evidence last year to match what Mr. Thompson was saying about Chinese influence.
"Absolutely not," Glenn spokesman Jack Sparks said when asked whether the senator was covering up for the Clinton administration. The issue was revived by recent testimony by Democratic fund-raiser Johnny Chung that he funneled contributions to President Clinton's re-election campaign from high-ranking Chinese military figures. At the start of the Governmental Affairs Committee's hearings into campaign finance abuses last year, Mr. Thompson said there was strong evidence of a Chinese plan to influence U.S. elections, including the presidential race.
"The committee believes high-level Chinese government officials crafted a plan to increase China's influence over the U.S. political process," Mr. Thompson said then.
Mr. Glenn participated in the hearings as ranking minority member of the committee. He differed with Mr. Thompson's allegations. "I have seen nothing that would lead me to go quite that far," Mr. Glenn said then.
Mr. Glenn was criticized harshly last year for allegedly acting as defense attorney for the Clinton administration during the hearings, a charge he vehemently denied.
When the news about Mr. Chung's testimony broke on May 14, many political observers immediately saw it as a vindication for Mr. Thompson and more evidence that Mr. Glenn and other Democrats were playing partisan games last year.
Some speculated that Mr. Glenn's reward was a flight on the space shuttle.
