Prosecutor: Ted Stevens' story on gifts 'nonsense'

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.

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By MATT APUZZO and JESSE J. HOLLAND

WASHINGTON (AP) — Prosecutors scoffed at Sen. Ted Stevens during closing arguments of his corruption trial Tuesday, repeatedly dismissing the Alaska senator's efforts to explain away hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts as "nonsense."

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."

Bottini went item-by-item through the list of renovations and gifts and ridiculed Stevens' explanations for them: At one point the prosecutor said his answer was 'ridiculous,' and at another, responded to a Stevens reply to a question by asking a question: "Does that make any sense whatsoever?"

"Is there any doubt he cooked up a story?" Bottini said at another point, adding: "That's not what happened and you know it."

Closing arguments were scheduled to continue throughout Tuesday. Jurors were expected to begin deliberating Wednesday.

Stevens asked for an unusually speedy trial that he hopes will clear his name before Election Day. He is fending off a tough Democratic challenge for a seat he's held for 40 years.

Democrats have invested heavily in the campaign, sensing an opportunity to unseat a legendary Republican figure and perhaps capture a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.