Here are some highlights from Tuesday's session of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee's campaign finance hearings:
'Perfectly willing and adept at putting illegal money into the U.S.'
"We'll look at Mr. John Huang's activities when he worked at Lippo, including whether he engaged in illegal money-laundering there. I think the significance there is both Mr. Huang and Lippo were perfectly willing and adept at putting illegal money into the U.S. We'll also examine Lippo's relationship to the People's Republic of China.
They [Democratic National Committee documents] basically set forth pretty clear evidence that a foreign citizen, I think through his wife, offered to make a large contribution, I think $100,000, to the DNC for assistance in arranging a meeting with a top national security official."
-- Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), in his opening statement
'There was in fact a Chinese government plan'
"I am here to tell you based on what I heard yesterday [Monday], I conclude there was in fact a Chinese government plan to move money into America's congressional elections last year, with the clear intent to affect America's policy towards China. Whether that conclusion can be proven either in the committee hearings or in a court of law remains to be seen. But in fairness to Senator Thompson, based on events I have seen, I wanted to say what I have said now."
-- Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), talking to reporters outside the hearing room
'A smiling tiger'
"It is well established in the public record that the government uses China Resources as an agent of espionage. It's kind of like a smiling tiger. It acts friendly but it's very dangerous."
-- Thomas R. Hampson, president of Search International, a Chicago business research firm
'We categorically deny ... '
"We categorically deny that this meeting was arranged in exchange for a contribution or a committment of a contribution."
-- White House Special Associate Counsel Lanny Davis, on an October 1995 meeting between Hong Kong financier Eric Hotung and then-Deputy National Security Adviser Samuel Berger
'Makes me wonder who Mr. Huang was really working for'
"To have 400 telephone contacts between John Huang while he is an employee of the U.S. Department of Commerce and people working for various Lippo entities makes me wonder who Mr. Huang was really working for during his time at the Department of Commerce. That's an extraordinary amount of contact."
-- Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)
'I really don't know'
"I really don't know what he did in his office ... I presumed it was business relations and customer development."
-- Harold Arthur, chairman of the board, Lippo Bank, when asked by Sen. Susan Collins what John Huang did in his office all day