Clinton Foundation scandal echoes Clinton-China controversy from 1998

Hillary Clinton has been accused of giving donors to her family's foundation special access to the government when she led the State Department — charges that echo a similar scandal from nearly 20 years ago, when President Bill Clinton was accused of ignoring U.S. national security to please a Democratic donor.

In 1996, a U.S. company gave China vital technical information that boosted its missile program, an incident that Clinton's own national security team said was a major mistake.

But instead of punishing that company, Clinton rewarded it by approving the sale of another one of its satellites to China, and dismissed national security concerns as he took that step.

The move was seen as controversial in no small part because the CEO of the company Clinton helped was a major donor to Clinton and other Democrats.

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