D.C.’s Elite May Be Witnesses at Stevens’s Trial

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The New York Sun

WASHINGTON — As many as five senators and a former secretary of state may take the stand at the corruption trial of Senator Stevens in coming weeks, a federal judge said today.

The former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and Democratic Senators Kennedy of Massachusetts and Leahy of Vermont were among more than 200 potential witnesses announced today as jury selection began in what is expected to be a monthlong trial.

Also named as possible witnesses were Senators Inouye, a Democrat of Hawaii and Hatch, a Republican of Utah. Add Mr. Stevens to the mix of potential witnesses and the case has the makings of a potentially historic trial.

Such lists aren’t guarantees, however. A former White House aide, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, for instance, never delivered on his pledge to call Vice President Cheney to testify in a perjury case.

The 84-year-oldMr. Stevens, the Senate’s longest-serving Republican, is charged with lying on Senate financial disclosure forms about home renovations and other gifts he received from the founder of a powerful oil contractor VECO Corp., Bill Allen.

Mr. Stevens is fighting for both his innocence and his political life. He is in a tough re-election race against Mayor Mark Begich of Anchorage, a Democrat. The longtime GOP lawmaker will have to stay in Washington during the trial, while Mr. Begich is free to campaign around Alaska.

It’s unclear from the witness lists what Mr. Powell and the lawmakers might testify about. But Mr. Stevens had described Mr. Powell as one of his closest friends. And Mr. Inouye is one of Mr. Stevens’s closest allies in Congress.

Other lawmakers could testify about Mr. Stevens’s character or about the difficulties of keeping track of what services must be disclosed on Senate forms.

The trial could offer a glimpse at the favors and gifts bestowed on Capitol Hill lawmakers and the process by which they are disclosed — or concealed.

Also on the list of potential witnesses were figures in a now-suspended investigation into whether Allen had sex with an underage girl in the 1990s. He was never charged and has denied any wrongdoing in that case.

Allen, who has pleaded guilty to corruption charges and is the FBI’s star witness, is expected to testify that he lavished Mr. Stevens with gifts and favors. Mr. Stevens’s attorneys could try to use the sex case to discredit Allen, whom Stevens once counted among his friends.

Mr. Stevens, wearing a blue tie and an American flag lapel pin, remained expressionless in court today and looked intently at the 184 potential jurors. Upon leaving court, he said nothing but: “Good morning.”


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