Senator Mike Duffy testified that he resisted "at every opportunity" a scenario proposed by members of Stephen Harper's PMO to have him publicly acknowledge he was mistaken to claim housing allowances for his Ottawa home and that he would repay.

Mike Duffy said hiring his colleague Gerald Donohue as a general contractor who then paid for some of the senator's expenses the Crown now contends were inappropriate was a valid payment structure.

Senator Mike Duffy denied Crown allegations that he billed taxpayers to attend a dog show or visit his family in Vancouver, insisting repeatedly he never inappropriately expensed travel claims that are at the centre of his criminal trial.

Senator Mike Duffy denied in court testimony Wednesday that he has ever broken Senate rules or had any motive to defraud the Senate, attempting to counter allegations that his precarious financial situation prompted him to claim inappropriate expenses.

Mike Duffy, testifying for the first time at his criminal trial, said former prime minister Stephen Harper ignored his concerns about being appointed a senator for P.E.I. and insisted that if he were to join the Senate, he must represent that province.

The Crown in the Mike Duffy trial has finished with its final witness and is expected to rest its case on Tuesday, setting the stage for the senator to testify on his own behalf.

Gerald Donohue, who received contracts worth thousands of dollars from Senator Mike Duffy, said he had cheques made out to his wife's company because direct payment would have put him at a "disadvantage" with Canada's tax agency.

The P.E.I. senator is expected to take the stand, once the Crown wraps up its case. Duffy has said almost nothing publicly since the trial began in April.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is defending his decision to appoint Mike Duffy as a senator for P.E.I., saying that the former Ottawa broadcaster met the bar of owning a residence in the province.

A former director of issues management at the Prime Minister's Office who was being cross-examined at the Mike Duffy trial may not have been acting improperly by chatting at the Ottawa courthouse with the current holder of the job, but it showed poor judgment, criminal lawyers say.

Mike Duffy remains the only true persona non grata in the Conservative party. Other Conservatives involved in the scandal have been kept inside the fold, even receiving promotions, with only one staffer, Nigel Wright, ever repudiated for his role in the coverup.

As the third phase of the Mike Duffy trial wrapped up today, a former top aide at the Prime Minister's Office testified he felt "uncomfortable" that the PMO was attempting to get an independent auditor "locked in" to drop its review of the senator.

Mike Duffy's lawyer battled it out in court today with a former senior staffer in the Prime Minister's Office over his insistence that he never a read a line in an email from Nigel Wright that said he had personally repaid the senator's expenses.

A former legal adviser of the Prime Minister's Office said he believed Stephen Harper had directly approved the details of a plan by members of his staff to pay back Mike Duffy's living expenses.