Palin's pal, Ted Stevens, in trouble

Prosecutors scoff: Ted Stevens' defense 'nonsense'

WASHINGTON – Prosecutors ridiculed Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens on Tuesday, closing their corruption case by dismissing as "nonsense" his efforts to explain away hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts.

Prosecutor Joseph Bottini told jurors that Stevens surrounded himself with wealthy, generous friends who could be counted on to give gifts and who could be trusted to keep it quiet.

Stevens testified for three days and said he never asked for the rope lighting, furniture, gas grill, fully stocked tool chest or other items that kept appearing at his house. He said he repeatedly pressed his friend, contractor Bill Allen, to remove them.

"Does anybody really believe that the defendant really can't get Bill Allen to stop giving him all this free stuff?"

Bottini asked.Stevens, 84, is charged with lying on Senate disclosure forms about $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts he received from Allen and his oil services company, VECO Corp.

Bottini repeatedly questioned Stevens' credibility and remarked that the Senate's longest-serving Republican looked uncomfortable answering questions on the witness stand.

In particular, Bottini seized on an awkward exchange that occurred Monday, in which Stevens said an expensive massage chair was a loan, not a gift, from another friend.

"Does anyone really believe he thought that chair was a loan? It's been in his house for seven years," Bottini said. "What were the terms of this loan? Zero percent interest for 84 months? Simply saying, 'We're going to call this a loan and I don't have to report it,' is nonsense."

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He might be easier to believe if he didn't have a history of corruption, but these excuses are pretty novel. A loan for 7 years?