Politico‘s Josh Breshnahan reports:
Judge Emmet Sullivan suspended the corruption trial of Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) today after he found out that federal prosecutors had not turned over all their evidence to Stevens’ attorneys. Prosecutors disclosed this morning that they hadn’t given defense lawyers exculpatory information from an FBI interview with Bill Allen, the Justice Department’s star witness in the case. Allen, the former CEO of Veco Corp., an Alaska oil services company, has testified that his former company, with Stevens’ knowledge, paid more than $180,000 to cover the costs of renovating Stevens’ home in Girdwood, Alaska. DOJ alleges that Stevens did not report the gifts from Allen, Veco and others on his annual financial disclosure reports. Stevens has denied the charges. Allen reportedly told an FBI agent that Stevens would have paid the full cost of the renovations if he had known about it, information that prosecutors did not share with Stevens’ attorneys until near midnight on Wednesday. Judge Sullivan has scheduled a hearing this afternoon on whether to declare a mistrial.
Also, the Washington Post reports this interesting exchange at the Stevens trial:
In court yesterday, Allen said Stevens — who, at age 84, is running for reelection to a seventh Senate term — never paid for the work. Allen also said he never sent Stevens a bill for the renovations, which Veco documents valued at tens of thousands of dollars in labor and material. In 2002, Stevens sent Allen a handwritten letter asking for a bill for a new first-floor deck installed by Veco employees. “You owe me a bill. Remember Torricelli, my friend,” Stevens wrote, referring to a campaign finance scandal involving Robert Torricelli, the former senator from New Jersey. “Friendship is one thing. Compliance with the ethics rules, entirely different.” Stevens added that Allen needed to contact their mutual friend Bob Persons, who was monitoring the renovations because the senator spent so much time in Washington. When he met with Persons, however, Persons told him to ignore Stevens’s request for an invoice, Allen testified. “Bill, don’t worry about getting a bill” for Stevens, Allen said Persons told him. “Ted is just covering his [expletive].” A month later, Stevens again requested a bill. But Allen ignored that, too. He said he didn’t want to charge Stevens a dime for the work.
UPDATE: Dismissal denied.
