Chris Woodcock, ex-PMO aide, says he didn't know Wright repaid Duffy's expenses

Mike Duffy's lawyer battled it out in court today witha former senior staffer in the Prime Minister's Officeover his insistence that he never a read a line in anemail from Nigel Wright that saidhe had personally repaid the senator's expenses.

The claim by Chris Woodcock,a former director of issues management,was similar to one recentlymade by Stephen Harper's campaignteam. TheysaidRayNovak, Harper's current chief of staff, also never read an emailsent to him by Wright on March 22,2013, saying he had paid for Duffy.

"Your claimis just like Ray Novak's," Duffy's lawyer Donald Bayne said. "'Gee, I got the email. It's only to me. But golly I never read it.'"

"That's the truth sir," said Woodcock.

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"That's what you keep saying. I'm just going to examine it, sir." Bayne said.

Duffyhas pleaded not guilty to 31 charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery related toexpenses he claimed in 2013as a senator and later repaid with money from Wright, Stephen Harper's right-hand man at the time.

It was a long and testy exchange betweenBayneand Woodcock, each taking turns sniping at each other over anemailWright sent to Woodcock on Mar. 8, 2013. The last line of theemailread:"For you only 'I am personally covering Duffy's $90K.'"

Woodcock testified thatat the time,hedidn't see that part of theemail, and only sawit inlate June 2013. He said he was quite "surprised" when he saw that part of theemail.

Woodcock, who had said he received 700 to 1,000 emails a day, toldBayne that, "I won't pretend that you can comprehend what a day-to-day work life is likewhen you receive 50 emails in aparticular meeting."

"No, I'm sure I can't comprehend that," Bayne said.

But Baynepointed outthat Woodcock had said heprioritizedhis emails, the email was from his boss, andonly containedseven lines.

It's not just short, Bayne said, "it'scrystal clear."

"It's crystal clearwhen two years later you have the benefit of two years to prepare reading all the emails and scanning," Woodcock said. "Inthe moment sir, when receivingmany emails, dealingwith many issues, this was not the only topic that Idealt with over that time frame. As Isaid before, I just simplydidn'tsee the line."

Woodcock said the email did not appear the same way itwas shown in court as it did on his BlackBerry. He said had he seen the line, it would have helped him do his job over the next couple of months.

But Bayne also grilled Woodcock over otheremails in February 2013that had been sent to him from Wright, which talked about the party repaying Duffy's expenses.Members of the PMO, including Wright, wanted Duffy to agree to a deal in which he wouldadmit he had made an unintentional mistake and saythat he would repay theexpenses, at the time thought to be $32,000. In turn, the Conservative party fund would cover Duffy's costs.Wright had testified that Harper didn't know about this deal.

Bayne hammered Woodcock over why, as issues manager, he never raised this issue with Harper as it was his job, as Woodcock himself described, to take care of anything that might ruin the prime ministers' day.

"You're adopting a positionthat this is written in hieroglyphics sir. This is written in English. And you read English, right?"Bayne asked.

"Sir, I think frankly you don't need to insult me," Woodcock replied.

Woodcocksaid he didn't believe theissue of the party planning to cover Duffy's expenseswaspertinent to hiswork at the time, and that he was more focussed on media lines.

Earlier, Crown prosecutor JasonNeubauer asked Woodcock if he unilaterally scripted lines for Duffy and imposed them on him.

Woodcock said he did not and that developing the media lines was a collaborative effort.

"It was very much a two-way relationship," he said.

The trial, which began April 7 in the Ontario Court of Justice, is intothe final week of its third phase. It will continue until Aug. 28 and, with more time needed, break until it would resume again in mid-November.