Kerry's chinagate connections.

Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry "unwittingly tried to help a Chinese espionage agent and arms dealer in 1996 in return for campaign contributions for his Senate re-election campaign," reported NBC News on February 17.

In the midst of a tight re-election bid against Massachusetts Governor William Weld, Kerry received a crucial $10,000 donation from Johnny Chung on behalf of Lt. Colonel Liu Chao Ying, a Communist Chinese arms dealer and daughter of the second-highest ranking official in the People's Liberation Army. Liu, described by former Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffer William Triplett, was a "high-tech spy" deeply involved in efforts to procure aerospace technologies for Communist China's missile program. She used Chung as a conduit to filter hundreds of thousands of dollars into the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign in exchange for trade concessions that made critical technologies available to Beijing.

From Kerry, Liu sought a meeting with the Securities and Exchange Commission in order to have her company, China Aerospace, listed on the U.S. stock exchange. Though Liu didn't get everything she wanted, "Kerry was able to get her a meeting with the Securities and Exchange Commission, after [Chung] ... provided him with campaign contributions and the promise of more help," recalled NBC News.