Hillary Clinton Tape Played for Jury in NYC Trial

Prosecutors played a voicemail recording of Hillary Rodham Clinton praising a former top Democratic fundraiser on the opening day of a criminal trial Tuesday to show how he used his connection to powerful politicians to dupe investors in a $20 million fraud.

In the message, then-Senator Clinton said Norman Hsu's hard work nearly left her speechless.

"I've never seen anybody who has been more loyal and more effective and really just having greater success supporting someone than you," she told him. "Everywhere I go, you're there. If you're not, you're sending people to be part of my events. You know, we're going to win this campaign, Norman, because you single-handedly are going to make that happen."

Hsu, 58, is charged with making illegal campaign contributions by breaking rules limiting the amount any single individual or group can donate.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rua Kelly told the jury in Manhattan that Hsu persuaded others to make thousands of dollars in donations in their names to major Democratic candidates with the understanding that he would reimburse them.

One witness, Suzanne Raffaelli of the Bronx, testified that Hsu directed her to make tens of thousands of dollars in donations, including $3,000 in March 2005 to Hope Fund Inc. and $2,500 again in February 2006.

She was asked if she knew who the donation was destined for.

"I know now. It is Obama," she testified.

The testimony came after several other investors recounted how Hsu wowed them by showing off his political connections.

Nicole Chorvat, a Los Angeles health care consultant, said she met Obama, Hillary Clinton, President Bill Clinton, Sen. John Kerry, Sen. Ted Kennedy and Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island at fundraisers she attended with Hsu.

"They always praised him," she said of the politicians she met.

She identified herself in a photograph posing with Obama and Hsu in 2006 at a fancy Beverly Hills, Calif., restaurant.