On Nigel Wright鈥檚 final day under cross-examination at the trial of Sen. Mike Duffy, a Crown attorney objected to Duffy鈥檚 lawyer鈥檚 line of questioning, calling it 鈥渆ntirely politically motivated.鈥�

The accusation happened just after Donald Bayne, Duffy鈥檚 lawyer, suggested that Wright, the prime minister鈥檚 former chief of staff, had directly told Stephen Harper of his plan to repay Duffy鈥檚 questionable expenses.

Crown Attorney Mark Holmes added that Duffy and his lawyer might have 鈥渁n agenda,鈥� and that Bayne had 鈥渇uelled the media cycle鈥� by reading a statement in court on Tuesday that PBO lawyer Benjamin Perrin made to the RCMP.

In that statement, Perrin had said the prime minister鈥檚 current chief of staff, Ray Novak, was in the room during a March 2013 conference call in which a plan for Wright to pay $90,000 of Duffy鈥檚 questionable expenses was discussed.

Wright gave Duffy a personal cheque to cover the $90,000. Duffy now faces 31 charges related to those expenses, including fraud, breach of trust and bribery. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Bayne told the judge that his question on whether the prime minister knew about the repayment was 鈥渉ighly relevant.鈥�

The Crown鈥檚 objection was not sustained, so Bayne was allowed to continue.

When asked outside court about the accusation that he and Duffy has a political agenda, Bayne told CTV鈥檚 Philip Ling that he was 鈥渏ust conducting a lawful trial -- the defence of a man who is presumed innocent.鈥�

Duffy was also asked outside court whether he had a political agenda, to which he smiled and said, 鈥淧olitics?鈥�

Legal analyst Boris Bytensky told 麻豆影视 Channel that he was surprised the Crown hadn鈥檛 made such an objection earlier in the trial.

Bytensky said that it鈥檚 not important to the charges whether the prime minister was directly involved in the repayment scheme, even though the public may want to know.

鈥淭he bottom line is, whatever Mike Duffy thinks was happening is what is relevant,鈥� he said, 鈥渘ot what is actually happening.鈥�

鈥淪o if Mike Duffy says, 鈥業 thought the prime minister was directly involved,鈥� at that level, that鈥檚 good enough.鈥�

Bytensky added that he thinks Perrin, who will be on the witness stand Thursday, will not be a 鈥減articularly important witness in this trial.鈥�

Bayne has spent the last week trying to portray Wright as the mastermind behind a secretive and opaque Prime Minister's Office, which sought to quash a potential scandal and keep the details from coming to light by telling Duffy and other senators what to do.

Bayne has been cross-examining Wright for several days using a batch of emails submitted as evidence from 2013, which show several PMO staffers talking to lawyers and senators about keeping the issue out of the media.

To that end, Bayne hammered Wright in court Wednesday for giving his client talking points that deliberately misled the public about who repaid the money.

Wright told Bayne he didn't think it was a "bad misrepresentation" to have Duffy tell the media he'd paid the money back himself, even though Wright had been the one to foot the $90,000 bill.

"I knew we wanted people to understand that Sen. Duffy had repaid, and I knew I had put him with funds. I didn't attach the distinctions," Wright told the court.

Duffy told the media he had repaid the money on Apr. 19, 2013, repeating a statement drafted by PMO staffers earlier that day, according to an email thread shown in court. "I can confirm that I have repaid these expenses," said the statement, written by Stephen Lecce, the PMO's deputy communications director.

Wright told the court he felt it was important that the public know the money had been repaid, and that he didn't think it was "significant" at the time to say the money wasn't coming out of Duffy's pocket.

"Look where it got you," Bayne replied. "It is significant. You don't have a job at the PMO anymore."

Bayne also grilled Wright for his role in managing Duffy's interactions with the Senate and Deloitte, an independent auditor appointed to look into questionable Senate spending.

Novak under scrutiny

The defence continued to raise questions about Ray Novak, who was the prime minister's principal secretary at the time, and who succeeded Wright after he was fired over the scandal. Novak was included on several emails in the PMO's alleged cover-up discussions, including one in which Wright wrote: "I will send my cheque on Monday."

Wright sent that email on Mar. 23, addressed to Novak and Benjamin Perrin, the lawyer who represented the PMO in their discussions with Duffy.

Perrin told the RCMP in a statement that Novak had been on a conference call discussing the payment that same day. However, Wright has testified that Novak was not present for that conference call.

Bayne said outside of court Tuesday that he expects Perrin to take the stand at some point in the trial.

Shortly before the trial resumed on Wednesday, the Liberal Party called for Novak to be fired, and for all his emails, BlackBerry messages and other communications to be turned over to the RCMP.

"Harper needs to finally end the cover up and come clean with Canadians," Liberal candidate Steve MacKinnon said in a statement.

Harper has repeatedly dodged questions about Novak, insisting instead that Duffy and Wright are the only ones to blame. Harper faced more of the same questions on Wednesday at a campaign stop in London, Ont.

"I have held those who are responsible accountable," Harper said, when asked about Novak's possible knowledge of the deal.

CTV Ottawa Deputy Bureau Chief Laurie Graham pressed Harper on the issue, asking where Novak is right now, and what role he is playing in the Conservative leader鈥檚 current election campaign.

Harper did not answer either question in his response.

Novak started the election campaign in Harper's entourage, but he has been out of sight since his name started coming up at the Duffy trial.

How the story got out

Bayne wrapped up his analysis of the emails by questioning Wright about May 14, 2013, the day CTV Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported Duffy's expenses had been paid by someone else.

On the morning of May 14, Wright got an emailed "heads up" from his director of communications, Andrew MacDougall, that Fife was asking questions about the payment, and that he knew no taxpayer money had been used.

PMO staffer Carl Vallee then asked in an email: "Would the PM know the actual answer to the question? Just in case he asks us."

Wright's answer to that email has been at the centre of much debate, as he replied: "The PM knows, in broad terms only, that I personally assisted Mr. Duffy when I was getting him to agree to repay the expenses."

On Wednesday, Wright told the court that it meant Harper knew he was talking to Duffy personally about the issue, and not that the prime minister was aware of the secret payment.

Fife reported that Duffy had not paid the money back himself on CTV National News on May 14, sending the PMO into damage control mode.

Immediately after the newscast aired, PMO staffer Chris Woodcock emailed Duffy, asking if he'd seen the story. "Someone is showing Fife your emails," Woodcock wrote.

Wright told the court he thought Duffy gave Fife the emails.

MacDougall Responds

In a series of Tweets, MacDougall sought to clarify what happened the day that Fife made the story public.