Stevens Corruption Trial Begins

Jury selection began today in the corruption trial of Ted Stevens, the first US senator in over 20 years to face a criminal trial, reports WTUU of Anchorage. The list of 200-plus possible witnesses at the Alaska Republican's trial, in federal court in Washington, DC, includes Colin Powell as well as Democrats Ted Kennedy, Daniel Inouye, and Patrick Leahy, the AP reports.

Also on the list: Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican, and an Alaska oilman who is expected to testify that he supplied Stevens with a quarter-million dollars in gifts that included work on his Alaska home. But Bill Allen has been investigated for—though not charged with—having sex with an underage girl, and the defense is expected to use that suspended investigation to attempt to discredit him.
(More Ted Stevens stories.)