For Immediate Release: Keith Appell (703) 683-5004 - Thursday, June 24, 1999
Vol. 3, No. 24

While the Other Networks Air Almost Nothing, FNC's Carl Cameron is Developing Chinagate Scoops

There's No One But Fox to Follow Up Cox

     Fox News Channel airs the slogan "We report, you decide." On the Chinese spy scandal, FNC has been doing the reporting, while the other networks have offered almost nothing to help people make a decision. FNC's Carl Cameron is all alone on the TV China beat.

      June 3: Testing a Second Missile. Cameron reported: "This has caught U.S. military and intelligence officials off guard. China now plans to move up its development timetable and later this year will test not one but two new intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of hitting the U.S. The second is particularly surprising because it comes years before any U.S. analyst had predicted China would be able to do it and because of how similar it will be to the top weapon in the U.S. arsenal." Cameron added: "Frustrated FBI agents say the Justice Department should have already asked a grand jury to indict fired Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee. Counter-intelligence sources say a sting operation caught Lee mishandling secrets in 1997." Other network coverage? Zero.

     June 8: O'Leary's Leak. Cameron reported allegations made by Republicans such as Rep. Curt Weldon: "Now come allegations that former Clinton administration Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary leaked classified nuclear weapons information personally in 1995 to U.S. News & World Report. After the magazine published this classified design information on the W-87 warhead, an investigation began to find the leak. Sources say DOE brass abruptly canceled the probe to prevent O'Leary embarrassment. Lawmakers now want that suspected cover up investigated." Other network coverage? Zero.

     June 9: Deliberate Incompetence? Cameron reported on a Senate hearing with Energy Secretary Bill Richardson: "The chief of Energy Department counter-intelligence, Ed Curran, accompanied Richardson and found himself under fire for claiming several days ago that the Senate knew about China's spying in 1996 and failed to act. The Vice Chairman of the committee, Democrat Bob Kerrey, scolded Curran for being both inaccurate and too partisan." Kerrey said: "It carried a tone that sounded as if it was written by the political shop over at the White House." He added: "Curran sat by and watched as his boss acknowledged that the comments and the facts were wrong."

     Cameron concluded with this exclusive: "In rare closed door testimony, Fox News has learned that frustrated rank and file FBI agents told lawmakers that they found ample evidence of Chinese espionage but felt thwarted by senior Justice Department officials. Now sources say lawmakers will look into the possibility of what's called, quote, 'deliberate incompetence' by Justice Department officials to sweep it under the carpet." Other network coverage? Zero.

     June 10: Trie Destroyed Evidence. Cameron reported how Charlie Trie destroyed documents, (noted in recent print accounts of his plea deal but not mentioned elsewhere on TV), and added fresh information about how the FBI was thwarted: "The President appointed his long-time friend and fundraiser Charlie Trie of Little Rock to a trade commission to deal with Hong Kong and other Asian nations. Trie has pleaded guilty to fundraising violations and is cooperating with investigators, but in 1997 FBI surveillance observed Trie's employees destroying evidence in the campaign fundraising investigation. At the time, the Justice Department sent two officials to Little Rock to get search warrants and intervene. But on the eve of Senate hearings into campaign finance abuse, the Justice Department pulled back on the warrants and the search of Trie's office, and frustrated FBI agents watched as more documents were destroyed." Other network coverage? Zero. ­- Tim Graham