George Clooney May Testify at Berlusconi Trial

Prime minister's attorneys include him, girlfriend on witness list
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 29, 2011 2:58 PM CDT
George Clooney, Girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis May Have to Testify at Silvio Berlusconi's Prostitution Trial
A 2009 file photo of George Clooney and his girlfriend, Italian actress Elisabetta Canalis.   (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

Silvio Berlusconi wants a high-profile witness for the defense: George Clooney. The Italian prime minister's lawyers have included the actor and his girlfriend, Elisabetta Canalis, on their wish list of witnesses for Berlusconi's prostitution trial, reports Bloomberg. The PM is accused of paying an underage model for sex and then trying to cover it up. (Click for his unusual can't-be-true rationale.)

Why Clooney? The young model in question, Karima el-Mahroug, said she once saw Clooney and Canalis at one of Berlusconi's dinner parties, and the prime minister presumably wants them to testify that all was above-board. (Clooney has a nearby mansion on Lake Como.) One potential glitch: Canalis has reportedly told prosecutors they never attended any such party, notes AP. Judges will have the final say on which witnesses are called when the trial opens next week. (More George Clooney stories.)

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