Mike Duffy trial: 7 things we learned from Nigel Wright's testimony

After six days in the witness box, including five under intense cross-examination,NigelWright wrapped uphis testimony on Wednesday, answering a number of questions that had been outstanding since he left the Prime Minister's Office and his role as Stephen Harper's chief of staffin May 2013.

Here are seventhings we learned from Wright's testimony in an Ottawa courtroom:

1. Explanation of 'good to go'

An email from Wright to members of the PMO that contained the sentence "we are good to go from the PM" had raised a number of questions regardingthe prime minister's involvement in the deal with Duffy.

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Members of the PMO, including Wright, had cooked up a plan that would seeDuffyagree to a deal in which he wouldadmit he had made an unintentional mistake and pledge to repay theexpenses, at the time thought to be $32,000. Meanwhile, theConservative Party fund wouldsecretly cover Duffy's expenses. (That plan eventually fell through when it was learned Duffy owed $90,000).

'Good to go', Wrightsaid, meant Harper hadapproved ofwhat he thought was a plan in whichDuffy himself would repay the money and admit to mistakes in the claiming ofexpenses.

Which leads to ...

2. Wright backed up Harper's claims he didn't knowabout cheque

Harper has consistentlydenied that he knew of theplanto use the Conservative fund to pay back Duffy's expenses or that Wright eventually paid them off with a personal cheque.Wright backed up those claims in court, saying he wouldn't typically inform Harper about the involvement of the Conservative fund in payment for these kinds of issues.

Asked point blank byCrown prosecutor Jason Neubauer about whether he told Harper of his intention to personally pay the $90,000, Wright responded:"No."

3.Wright says he didn't lie to Harper

Wright testified that he told Harper that Duffy was going to repay the expenses when, at the time, Wright knew the plan initiallywas to have the Conservative party fund cover the claims.

"I don't think I lied to the prime minister," Wright said. "I don't feel it was lie. I just felt it wasn't on my list of things I needed to check with him."

Wright added that he didn't think the distinction betweenDuffy paying and the Conservative party fund paying was that significant. What was important was that the expenses were paid back, he said.

4. Wright says he had an 'obligation' to pay Duffy

Before the trial, Wright's only public statement about why he personally paid Duffy's expenses was that hisactions "were intended solely to secure the repayment of funds, which I considered to be in the public interest."

But Wright expanded on thatexplanation in court. Wright said when theplan to have the Conservative party fund cover Duffy's expenses fell through, he felt he had an "obligation to fulfil my end of the arrangement" with Duffy. He said Duffy had already committed to acknowledging that unintentional mistakes had been made regarding the expenses, on the understanding he, Duffy, would have expenses covered.

5. What did Ray Novak know?

Anemail on Mar. 22, 2013 revealed that Ray Novak, Harper's currentchief of staff,was to be part of a conference calla call in which Wright's cheque was discussed. And inan email the next daythat was also sent to Novak, Wright wrote:"I will send my cheque on Monday."

Meanwhile, court heard that BenjaminPerrin, a former PMO lawyer, had told the RCMP that Novak was part of that conference call and did know about Wright's plan to personally cover Duffy's expenses.

But Wright testified that Novak was not part of the call, andhad just "popped in and out."AConservative Party campaignspokesmanhassaidNovakwas on the first part of that conferencecall, but didn't hear discussion of Wright's cheque. As for Wright's'I will send my cheque'email',the campaign hasclaimed that Novak never read it. The Conservatives maintain Novaklearned about Wright's cheque when it became public knowledge inMay 2013.

6. Wright and Novakwere in contact two weeks ago

In court, Wrighttold Duffy's lawyerthat hehad last spoken to Novak in May or June. But when pressed onwhen he last communicated with Novak, Wright said it wasabouttwo weeks ago.

He said it wasthrough BlackBerry messages for "a minute or two." It was never revealed what was discussed and Wright said he had no record of the communication.

7. Wright denies meddling in Deloitte audit

In the one email, Wright said he wanted Conservative Senator Irving Gerstein to "work through senior contacts at Deloitte," an outside auditing firm looking into the residency and expense claims of senators.

But Wright said in courthe was just hoping to get Gerstein together with Senator David Tkachuk the chair of the Senatesteering committee that had asked for the auditalong with membersof Deloitte, to "close the loop."

Wright said he wanted Deloitte to be aware of a proposal by Tkachuk which would see Deloitte drop the review into Duffy, since Duffy had agreed to repay his expenses.