WATCH ABOVE: The Mike Duffy trial has come to an end, for now, as the Crown and defence have finished grilling scheduled witnesses. The trial will resume in November. Mike Le Couteur reports.
OTTAWA – The Mike Duffy trial is set to wrap up until November.
Judge Charles Vaillancourt agreed to break Tuesday after defence lawyer Donald Bayne finishes his cross-examination of witness Chris Woodcock.
The Crown had asked for another witness, Gerald Donohue, to testify by video Wednesday.
But due to health reasons, Bayne asked that the trial finish on Tuesday and the judge agreed.
The Crown alleged Duffy funnelled $65,000 in Senate contracts to Donohue’s companies for non-Senate services such as a personal trainer.
Donohue, who is ill, was set to testify but was not able to do consecutive days, court heard.
He is now set to testify in November.
Duffy was “forced” by the Prime Minister’s Office to repay expenses that were embarrassing for the government but not necessarily ill-claimed, his defence lawyer alleged in court Tuesday.
Duffy’s lawyer Donald Bayne used his cross-examination of former PMO issues manager Chris Woodcock to suggest the PMO strong-armed Duffy into repaying his housing expenses even when the senator protested he didn’t do anything wrong.
Reading from a transcript of Woodcock’s RCMP interview in February 2014, Bayne quoted Woodcock as telling police the PMO had to “force,” “convince” and “persuade” Duffy to go out and repay his expenses.
WATCH: The break in Duffy’s trial couldn’t come at a better time for Stephen Harper who’s been forced to defend his office’s actions daily on the campaign trail. Laura Stone has more.
READ MORE: Senate scandal struck fear in PMO, but Mike Duffy had hand in dealing with his file, court hears
That’s because it was embarrassing, Woodcock conceded.
“It didn’t appear to be ethical,” he told the court. “It didn’t pass the smell test.”
But Woodcock also testified the Senate rules surrounding primary and secondary residency were vague, buttressing Bayne’s theory that Duffy was the victim of a PMO conspiracy to make a political problem go away.
“It was a bad political story for the government, wasn’t it?” Bayne asked.
“Undoubtedly,” Woodcock said.
READ MORE: Former PMO lawyer details fateful phone call outlining Nigel Wright’s $90,000 repayment plan
“It was a very bad story politically,” Bayne said.
“It was.”
When Duffy’s expense scandal was blowing up in February 2013, Woodcock drafted media lines for the senator in which he would admit he made a mistake and commit to repaying the money.
But behind the scenes, Duffy resisted – writing in an email to Stephen Harper’s current chief of staff, Ray Novak, that he didn’t do anything wrong.
Woodcock said he’d never seen that message.
READ MORE: Duffy’s former lawyer recommended calling repayment deal a ‘contract’
He also denied forcing Duffy to do anything, and said they worked collaboratively on media lines.
“I use the words force, convince, persuade, interchangeably,” Woodcock said.
On the stand for a second day after a hostile exchange Monday, interactions between Woodcock and Bayne at times grew tense, leading the judge to ask them both to stop interrupting each other.
On Monday, Woodcock denied ever reading an email from Harper’s former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, telling Woodcock he was personally covering Duffy’s $90,000 in expenses.
READ MORE: Key players in the Mike Duffy trial
Novak has also denied through a Conservative party spokesman he knew Wright was personally paying Duffy’s expenses, and Harper has defended him on the campaign trail.
Woocock said Tuesday he would have received an email from Wright on Feb. 22, 2013 in which Wright said he wanted to speak with the prime minister “before everything is considered final.”
But Woodcock said he was unaware Duffy pleaded his case to Wright and Novak.
“My understanding on the 22nd is that Sen. Duffy agreed to repay,” he said.
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